Cosmic Karma
by starsinjars
Summary: It was all a game, Tsuna realized, and for some reason he was a key player. To play or not was a decision that he had to make himself. On his shoulders sat the angel and devil with variables in between but Tsuna was only human. No one seemed to get that.
1. As If We Met in a Dream

Title: Cosmic Karma

Summary: AU - It was all a game, Tsuna realized, and for some reason he was a key player. Apparently all of his friends were playing, but being told to play or not was a decision that he had to make himself, and Tsuna didn't know which side to take. On his shoulders sat the angel and devil with variables in between, but Tsuna was only human. No one seemed to get that.

A/N: I've just done a Danny Phantom self-insert adventure and now I'm in a Reborn mood. I'll get back into DC/MK in a little bit.

If you watch _Puella Magi Madoka Magica,_ this intro will probably make more sense_. _Probably.

* * *

Chapter One: As If We Met In a Dream...

* * *

"If you want to change the world, you just have to accept your fate."

Wide chocolate diamond eyes turned from the horror in front of him and to the baby beside him, fear apparent in his eyes. "But…"

"I can't force you, but only you can prevent this future. Watch."

He turned, needing to watch as by request by his companion. There was someone there, fighting the battle and contributing to the chaos. Catching a quick glimpse of blue and red, the brunet blinked once more, watching the figure fall along with the debris.

"Remember this, Tsuna," the baby said, "Remember that you can prevent this… Only you accept your destiny of becoming Boss can you prevent this future."

* * *

Tsuna blinked awake, the morning sunlight from his window streaming along his face. He brought his pillow to his chest, bending his knees and trying to remember what reverie he had last night.

Being unable to recollect anything, he just shook his head and got up from bed, having to get ready for the day so that he won't be late for school.

Every day is the same old, same old. Every day is the same routine. Performing the same mundane tasks every day. There was nothing special about him, nothing special about his life.

Those were the thoughts swirling in Tsuna's mind as he ate his breakfast, stabbing a cherry tomato before placing it in his mouth, savoring its sweet juices as he bit it apart.

But he preferred it that way.

"Something bothering you, Tsu-kun?"

Tsuna blinked, dropping his fork onto his plate before shaking his head, smiling softly. "Nothing, Kaa-san. Just trying to remember my dream from last night. Something tells me it was different."

Nana placed her own plate of food down next to her son before taking a seat, leaning in close to him with a concerned look on her face. "Different? Different as in good or bad?"

Tsuna shook his head once more, playing with his egg. "Don't remember."

"Hmm." Nana looked up, thinking of how she could help. She went back to her plate of food before turning to her son, eyes shining with an idea. "How about this? Keep a notebook by your bed. If you were to dream the same dream again, as soon as you wake up, write down anything that you can remember, as well as any words that come to you." She smiled. "When you read it later on, perhaps you'll remember what you dreamt about."

Allowing for the idea to sink in, Tsuna nodded, placing his fork in his mouth to take the last of the rice on his plate. "Hmm, next time then."

He wasn't so sure if he wanted a next time, though.

* * *

"So then I told them, 'If you want to take a banana, might as well take the whole pie!'"

Tsuna laughed as prompted, while his other companion blinked in confusion as the other just grinned with the brunet.

"What if they wanted the kiwi instead?" the red head asked curiously. "Or mangos or maybe even pineapple?"

"Wah, Irie-kun, it's just a joke," Tsuna explained.

"Yeah, Shoichi, I'm just kidding. If you want, after school I'll get you the kiwi you wanted. Or pineapple, or mango, or whatever fruit you want!" Byakuran laughed, patting Tsuna on the back before pulling the brunet closer to him. "Thanks for the support, Tsu-chan! After school we'll all get some fruit pastries!"

Tsuna smiled as they approached the school, thoughts about the vague dream forgotten as Byakuran and Shoichi continued their discussion on various types of fruit, with Tsuna occasionally adding his own thoughts on the topic.

* * *

Tsuna used to be an average student, but it was thanks to the tutoring of Shoichi that he was able to pass the class that he was currently in in the first place, albeit slightly borderline failing.

Regardless, he believed he could be a good student. If he just understood what the teacher were talking about…

"And as I was saying," said their homeroom teacher only by the name of Spanner, munching on a lollipop. Bets were done every day as to what flavor it was. Today Tsuna bet on lime.

"Never mix almonds and potassium cyanide together. One is the nutlike kernel of the fruit of either of two trees, Prunus dulcis, commonly known as sweet almond, or P. dulcis amara, commonly known as bitter almond. Both of which grow in warm temperate regions. The other is a white poisonous granular soluble solid substance used in photography and in extracting gold from its ores with its formula being KCN."

See, and this information wouldn't even be on the test! What was the point of even teaching it?

"Don't go dying on me, it's annoying paperwork. Trust me, I know."

Statements like that make Tsuna curious as to how Spanner ended up as a teacher in the first place.

Spanner took out his lollipop, and - moment of truth - the flavor was orange. Tsuna couldn't help but let out a sigh, taking the pencil out of his mouth to hopefully take some notes that will be helpful later in his life. There went his slice of chocolate cake.

How did Byakuran always know what flavors to pick? Perhaps it was from eating so much sugar - he could just tell what flavor Spanner had just by _glancing_ at the unorthodox teacher.

"Oh yeah, and there will be a new student joining us today, " Spanner added off-handedly, replacing the candy with a lime flavor this time. So Tsuna will get half his chocolate cake. He was okay with this.

All eyes were to the door as the new student walked in with a flamboyant air around him, slowly taking his time to get to the center of the room. When he turned to address the rest of the class, everyone let out a soft gasp as the new classmate blinked his eyes open, revealing them to be mismatched ruby and sapphire.

"Rokudo Mukuro," Mukuro introduced himself, eyes looking straight into chocolate diamond before turning and writing his name on the board.

A flash of a blurry figure flew through Tsuna's mind before fading away into obscurity, and he could only stare at the new classmate who smirked back at the rest of the class before Spanner told him to take his seat.

* * *

"So I guess I owe you chocolate cake, don't I, Tsu-chan?"

Tsuna smiled as he retracted the lead in his mechanical pencil. "Yep!"

"Well, half a slice, technically. You were lucky, he usually takes a lemon pop as a second choice after his first flavor, to clean his palette. Consider us even for the fruit parfait I'll buy you later," Byakuran said, leaning back his seat to bring Shoichi into the conversation, who was distracted by the new classmate.

"Whatcha think of him?" the white haired man asked, all eyeing the new student now that the attention was brought to him.

"Well, he seems to be pretty cold, considering the fact that he's ignoring the students crowding him. I can't really hear since we're in the back and he's in the front," Shoichi told his companions of his observations, putting away his notebook to get ready to leave.

"You guys wanna get together after school? I'm not too keen on going home just yet," the red head asked, needing some time to kill before having to leave for cram school.

"Sure," Tsuna replied, with Byakuran nodding in reply. "We can go to the mall," Byakuran added his two cents in, eyes trailing to the new student. His lips curled into a smirk. "Maybe we'll catch Rokudo there."

Three students were confused, or at least Tsuna and Shoichi was, when said student got up and made his way towards them, directly to his seat.

"Tsunayoshi-kun, you're the Class Health Representative, right? Would you mind taking me to see the nurse? My eye hurts." He pointed to his ruby eye.

Tsuna stared before slowly nodding. "S-sure, Rokudo-san." He stood up from his seat and grabbed his bag. "I'll meet up with you guys at the food court."

Before he could say anything else, however, Mukuro grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the room, causing for the brunet to go 'Gah!' as he was being led down the hall.

"R-Rokudo-san, w-wait a sec." Tsuna could barely be heard as they ran across the hall, Mukuro leading the way to the nurse's office with no direction. "H-how do you - "

Suddenly, the new student stopped, causing for Tsuna to collide straight into him. "Iiitte te!" Tsuna rubbed his head. "Ow…" He blinked, looking to his escort. "Rokudo-san?"

Mukuro grabbed the brunet's hands and pulled them close to him. "Tsunayoshi, do you believe that you have value?"

Tsuna blinked. "E-eh?"

"Do you believe that you are you?"

The brunet looked away. "I… I don't understand…"

The hetrochromic wouldn't relent. "Do you like you for the way you are now?"

"Yes?" Tsuna answered quietly, slightly scared.

"You know that people want you to stay the same, right?" Mukuro continued, "That you have an impact to everyone as the way you are now."

"Yes?" Tsuna was still scared.

Mukuro finally released him, breathing a sigh of relief. "Good. Don't you forget it."

"U-um, Rokudo-san - "

"Just call me Mukuro, Tsunayoshi." He smiled. "Please don't forget what we just discussed." And with that, he walked away towards the Nurse's Office without further direction.

Tsuna stared after him until the bell rang.

* * *

"So what did Rokudo-san want, Tsuna-kun?" Shoichi asked the brunet, who swallowed his tangerine before answering.

"Nothing really, just told me to call him Mukuro," Tsuna replied, scooping up some custard before bringing it to his lips.

"He's interesting, wouldn't you say, Tsu-chan?" Byakuran asked, stabbing his fork in Tsuna's, but self-claimed, slice of chocolate cake before bringing it to his mouth, grinning. "With his eye and everything?"

Tsuna shrugged, placing the spoon in his mouth to suck on the cream. "I guess, but I don't really know him enough to say anything."

His company nodded, but Byakuran wasn't done yet. "How about you? Do you need your medicine?"

Tsuna shook his head, shrugging. "I'm fine. I did it earlier." He smiled. "Thanks though."

Shoichi was to say something, but his white haired companion gave him a look to silence him before glancing at the clock. The red head checked his watch before moving to get up, grabbing his plate now devoid of his fruit salad as paid by Byakuran. "I have to get going." He made a face. "Cramming school and all that."

Tsuna and Byakuran nodded, waving as Shoichi took his leave.

After he left, Byakuran jabbed Tsuna on the shoulder before pulling him in for a hug. He whispered in his ear, "Tsu-chan, let's go check out the bakery. I wanna see the new recipe for their marshmallow pie."

Tsuna nodded, sighing in indifference and wishing that he could get up himself. "Sure."

* * *

Tsuna was pretty full but he didn't mind accompanying Byakuran to the bakery, looking at the pastries with what appeared to be an interested expression but was actually of boredom. He ended up wandering off, leaving an excuse of having to buy something for his mother. He wasn't so sure if Byakuran heard him, but he didn't wait for an answer before leaving.

The brunet found himself by the exit, just about to go home, when he heard a gunshot.

He turned towards the sound, legs shaking, when he heard a voice.

_Tsuna._

He blinked. Now he was hearing voices. This was not a good sign.

_Dame-Tsuna, hurry up and get over here!_

He followed the voice, sounding rushed and in need of assistance. And he could hear the faint traces of annoyance along with it. Tsuna found himself moving up the stairs to a section of the mall that was under restoration, following the voice as to where he'd last heard it.

He was surprised when he caught a baby sharply dressed in a tux with a strange necklace charm shaped like a yellow pacifier shooting at the wall, causing for Tsuna to blink.

"…What…?"

The baby turned to Tsuna's voice and shot a bullet to the left side next to his head. He jumped in response, avoiding the bullet by two good millimeters. In order to avoid tripping over the boxes, he sidestepped away from them, but didn't catch the pole to his right and ended up tripping. He fell to the floor ungracefully on his bottom, mentally cursing himself for not seeing the pole.

The baby tsked. "Took you long enough, Dame-Tsuna."

"Tsunayoshi, get back!"

Tsuna turned to see the new student with a trident in hand, raised against the baby.

"Wait!" Tsuna stood in front of the baby, protecting him from Mukuro. "Mukuro-kun, what do you think you're doing?"

"Get out of the way, Tsuna," Mukuro commanded, holding the staff threateningly. "This is between him and me."

A red-brown flame gathered around them, and Tsuna jumped when he heard a voice from his right, "Reborn, is everything okay?"

The brunet turned. "K-Kozato-san?"

The red head looked over to Tsuna, raising his fist engulfed in flames. "So it's you next, Sawada-kun? I never would have guessed." He smiled. "Then again, I never would have guessed that I myself would be one as well."

"It's over, Mukuro. You lost," The baby that Tsuna deemed to be Reborn said, climbing onto Tsuna's right shoulder, making him flinch.

Mukuro tsked, but couldn't do anything about it as his eyes shifted from the baby to the red haired teen in between him and Tsuna, arm raised defensively to protect his target as well as protect Tsuna from a line of fire.

He narrowed his eyes. "For now. Don't think that this is over yet, Arcobaleno."

Reborn smirked. "Wouldn't count on it."

The heterochrome cast one last look at Tsuna, and mouthed, "Don't forget," before fading into the darkness.

Tsuna stared at where the man was previously before he shivered, getting an odd premonition about his surroundings.

Reborn raised an eyebrow, but said nothing as Enma distinguished his flames. "Sawada-san, are you okay?"

"Y-yeah," Tsuna managed to answer, rubbing his arms in an attempt to warm himself. "K- Kozato-san, what are you…?"

He smiled softly before eyes hardening, turning. "Who's there?" He raised an arm, ready to fight and defend the two with him.

"Just… observing. Don't mind me." A voice came from the shadows, emerging to be Byakuran. He took Tsuna by his right arm, sliding the baby off his shoulder. Reborn jumped onto Enma's as Byakuran brought Tsuna's waist around him.

"Tsu-chan, I can't believe you abandoned me like that! Come along," Byakuran pulled the brunet along, "It's getting late, almost past your curfew. Your mother will be worried."

"Eh?" He looked at his watch. "O-oh, you're right…" Tsuna was pulled along, too powerless to resist, not that he was resisting in the first place, as his friend was right.

Byakuran grinned, not sparing a glance at the baby and their classmate. "Let's get going then!"

"O-okay!" Tsuna managed to work his feet to stay side by side, and Reborn and Enma watched silently as the brunet was pulled away, unable to do anything to prevent him from leaving.

"So he's the one, Reborn?" Enma asked quietly when the pair left.

Reborn nodded curtly, lowering his fedora over his eyes. "He's the tenth one I've found, and the most promising one I've ever seen, even more than the first. Hopefully he'll last longer than the others."

Enma laughed. "Then what about me?"

"You don't count, obviously." The baby narrowed his eyes at where the pair left from. "His company is troubling, however. You're in the same class, right? Take advantage of it."

Enma's eyes grew strong, looking over to where Reborn was looking over, were Tsuna was. "Right."

* * *

"Tsu-kun, you've almost had me worried!" Nana pulled her son into a hug.

Tsuna could hear Byakuran chuckle from behind him. "K-Kaa-san!" he exclaimed, embarrassed that his friend had to see that. He wanted to push her away, but couldn't do so at his angle.

Nana didn't care for his son's embarrassment, too happy that he has finally arrived back home. She released him. "You do this again, so help me…!"

He lowered his head. "S-sorry, Kaa-san," he mumbled, no longer caring for his embarrassment.

He really had nothing to worry about, he has known Byakuran for so long and was used to the routine. Still, this was the first time he cut his curfew so close, usually Byakuran would have reminded him sooner.

"Byaku-chan, thank you again!" She pulled him for a hug, which he accepted.

He smiled in reply. "No problem, Nana-chan, anything for Tsu-chan!"

After she released him, he bowed slightly. "I better get going, it looks like it's going to rain and I don't want to keep Tsu-chan up too late." He winked. "See you tomorrow, Tsu-chan!"

"B-bye, Byaku-san," Tsuna quietly said goodbye before he was escorted back inside.

"Tsu-kun, we've been over this," his mom started her lecture. "You can go wherever you want after school, but you must be home before the sky starts to turn orange. You're not allowed out at night."

"S-sorry, Kaa-san. I lost track of time…" Tsuna had an excuse but he knew his mother wouldn't accept it. He wasn't going to tell her what happened, she already had enough troubles by his own fault without adding his own personal problems.

What was he even to say anyway? That the new student hated children enough to want to kill them and his classmate can spontaneously combust his hand in flames without burns? Or perhaps the fact that he was almost killed by said baby that the new student wanted to maim?

She sighed. "Tsu-kun, I'm doing this to protect you. You know I love you, right?"

W-what's with this all of a sudden? "O-of course, Kaa-san! I love you too!"

"So please follow your curfew and come home on time. If it wasn't for Byaku-chan, who knew what time you would have been home? You never answer your phone, I would have been so worried!

"So please, _please, _don't do this to me. Don't make me worry."

Tsuna looked away. "S-sorry, Kaa-san…"

She smiled softly. "It's fine, just don't do it again, okay?"

He nodded. "I promise."

"Good." She kissed him on the forehead. "Now do you want dinner or would you like to go to sleep now?"

He blushed, couldn't help but be embarrassed. "I-I'm older now, Kaa-san. I can stay up longer."

She looked at him carefully, feeling his forehead. "I don't know, Tsu-kun, it feels like you're having a slight fever."

He felt himself burning up. "M-maybe I'll go to bed now." He kissed her on the cheek before turning to his room. "Good night, Kaa-san."

She smiled. "Good night, Tsu-kun."

* * *

_A ring._

_A burning sensation._

_His house on fire._

_His school on fire._

_The whole town of Namimori on fire._

_Kozato Enma standing on top of the ashes, hand burning._

_Someone in the shadows._

_People behind the curtains, strings in between the fingers with marionettes under their control._

_That baby with that strange pacifier smiling through it all._

"_Don't forget."_

Tsuna panted, blinking awake. He sat upright, running his hand through his sweat soaked hair, hand resting over his right eye.

It hurt, it hurt so much.

It hurt too much to bare.

He wanted to gorge it out.

He stabbed his fingers into his eye, screaming as he attempted to do what he wanted. He bit back the pain, knowing that taking out the source will make the pain of taking it out worth it.

His window was suddenly forced open, and Tsuna felt a hand remove his own hand over his eye as rainwater fell into his room with the gush of leaves to follow.

"I told you not to forget, but it would seem you did," a voice whispered into his ear. Tsuna shivered, the pain fading away.

"W-who - "

Fingers laced themselves into his wild, sienna hair, and Tsuna found himself slowly being comforted before falling asleep under the gentle message.

Mukuro smiled as he heard Tsuna's even breathing, indicating that he was asleep. His smile turned into a frown as his hand glided over Tsuna's left hand to feel a ring on his middle finger. He narrowed his eyes out the window.

"Don't worry, Tsunayoshi," he murmured, "I won't let you fall under them again." He tightened his grip on the boy in his arms.

"No matter what."

* * *

A/N: Unbeta'd because I can't read this over again.

I've decided to combine a bunch of my Reborn bunnies into one. Hopefully this will lead into a better plot. If this were to continue, anyway. Meh.


	2. I Think That Would Be Truly Wonderful

Quick Recap: Sawada Tsunayoshi's life just went from boring and mundane to having a mysterious children-hating new student Rokudo Mukuro arrive and learning that his classmate can wield fire without any apparent damage and is acquaintances with a murderous baby. Saved by his friend Byakuran, hopefully yesterday would stay in the past, and Tsuna can go back to his daily life as he sleeps his fever away only to be accompanied with strange burning dreams. However, Mukuro can't very well say he enjoys finding the brunet with a ring on his finger.

… I will never recap like this again. Next chapter I'm going back to my vague ones.

* * *

Chapter Two: I Think That Would Be Truly Wonderful

* * *

_"I can grant you a wish."  
__"Hey? Is that true?"  
__"A wish is..."  
__"Anything you want. Even if it is a miracle, I can grant it!"  
__"That sounds wonderful."_

* * *

Tsuna brushed his fingers through the debris, looking for something. For what, he couldn't really say. Something was missing, something that was a part of him but was now lost.

"Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Hidden behind the shadows of light, it's only a matter of time before dusk. And that's when the real fun begins."

Tsuna turned away from the stage and dimming music, finding himself with the baby _- Reborn_ - polishing his silver gun while sitting on the plush couch, not looking at the confused brunet.

"Tell me about your friends, Dame-Tsuna," the baby asked, _ordered_, inspecting the gun for its shine.

Tsuna wasn't very popular. Everyone seemed to avoid him, especially when he's with his two close classmates. "U-uh, well there's Byakuran-san, Irie-san…"

His thoughts trailed over to the raven-haired sempai who liked to watch him from the rooftops.

"And I think… very, very slightly… Hibari-san." At least there were brief moments of eye contact. Sometimes even decent conversation. By decent conversation, Tsuna means asking him to stop trying to bite him to death since Byakuran wasn't around.

Reborn stopped polishing the weapon. "Hibari Kyoya?"

He nodded. "Y-yeah..."

Reborn lowered his head, so Tsuna could no longer see his eyes. "And of Rokudo Mukuro?"

Tsuna blinked once again as music began to play behind him, quiet applause before the orchestra restarted.

"R-Rukuro-san?" He shook his head. "I don't know about him yet." Reborn was about to nod, but stopped when Tsuna continued, "But I think we could be friends."

Reborn shook his head, disapproving. "I rather you be in Enma's company than with Mukuro and Byakuran." He continued to polish his gun. "Actually, I would rather you avoid him at all costs. Stick with those Enma, or Hibari's company at least, and your destiny will come sooner than you expect." He took out a pack of cigarettes from his inside pocket. Tsuna was stunned as the baby took out a stick before aiming his gun towards the end of it. The gun itself turned out to be a lighter, as it lit the tip and Reborn took a deep breath before exhaling, breathing the smoke into Tsuna's face. The brunet wasn't expecting such a thing, still shocked at the sight of a babysmoking,and trying to exhale the smoke he'd just inhaled, started coughing.

Reborn took another long drag, ignoring the brunet, whose dry coughs blocked out the music. He aimed his lighter and shot a bullet at a pineapple in the fruit bowl as Tsuna fell to the floor caused by his coughing fit.

"Your destiny cannot be avoided, no matter what."

* * *

Choking. That was the sensation Tsuna was feeling before waking up with a jolt. After taking a few breaths, it was gone, but his throat was now sore in contrast to his sudden fever.

Placing his hand over his forehead, Tsuna was glad that it felt soothing to touch, not warm at all. Now, it was whether or not he could convince his mother if he could go to school. He didn't like taking too many sick days, especially when he didn't really need it.

Tsuna blinked with his left eye then his right before reaching out for a glass in water to parch the dryness in his throat. He should really readjust the angle of his bed so that the desk could be easier to access. His left hand brushed over thin slices of paper, and Tsuna turned to the table by his bed to see a small notebook with an orange mechanical pencil hidden under the spiral binding that kept the sheets together by his glass of water.

He picked up the book gingerly, eying its cover of an chibi flaming puffball lion. Tsuna flipped through the notebook he assumed his mother had placed down by his bed, scanning the pages to find nothing inside but lines and a small replication of the flaming lion on the bottom right side of each orange-shaded page.

He wasn't one to chew on his pencils, but just twirling it between his fingers was difficult enough as it is.

At least it wasn't a pen.

Mechanical pencils felt so comfortable in between his fingers, and he took out the pencil before clicking out the lead. He spun it a few times before bringing it to hover the point over the blank canvas, vaguely planning on what to do with it.

Supposedly it was his dream journal, something that she suggested that he have yesterday. But as it was he didn't remember his dream last night. He never remembered anything about dreams after waking up. Nothing at all.

It was annoying that he was right handed, it made life somewhat difficult.

Still, it didn't stop his hand from gliding along the page, ignoring the guidelines as he let his hand run free to draw whatever.

He looked down into the book, and noticed a strange accessory that he didn't remember ever seeing before. The middle finger on his right hand was donning a ring. Its platinum band being about half the size of his smallest fingernail, the unidentified deep blue gem cut into an oval shape, twinkling in the sunlight streaming from his window.

He eyed the ring, wondering how it got on his finger before a slight knock on his door. The sound made him jump and resulted in him quickly hiding his hand behind his back and under his pillow as his mother walked in with a singular sky-blue ice pop. He didn't want her to see it for some reason, not yet.

She pouted at Tsuna's face, which was awake and blinking at her. "Awe, Tsu-kun! I wanted to be the one to wake you!" After making her way to his bed, she placed the ice pop down and her cold hand on his forehead. "Your fever's down, that's good." She smiled.

"Kaa-san, can I go to school?" Tsuna was to the point, causing for his mother to blink at his bluntness. If Tsuna wanted to go, he needed to ask now or else it would be too late.

She recovered and smiled again. "If that's what you want, Tsu-kun. I don't mind. But are you well enough to go?"

Tsuna nodded, trying to take of the ring as he tried to get up. "I think so." To his surprise, it wouldn't come off. He deflated back into his bed.

Nana spotted the open notebook on Tsuna's bed, pencil about to fall on the floor. She stared at the picture that her son had drawn, of a pacifier, for a few moments before refocusing her attention to the artist. "Since you're feeling well and are going to school, you're not going to have time to eat this, hmm?" She dangled the ice pop in front of her son's eyes, who stared at it longingly. Ignoring this, Nana got up from her son's bed and made her way towards the door. "I'll go prepare your breakfast and put this away for later then."

Tsuna nodded, smiling as he started to get up from his bed to get ready for school, still hiding the ring-bearing hand under the covers. "See you in a bit, Kaa-san."

Nana smiled from the door before closing it to leave her son to his privacy. She continued down the hall with the ice pop in hand, knowing that it wouldn't melt as the air conditioning was on.

She passed by the kitchen and moved further down the hall and into her room, quickly closing the door behind her. Placing the treat on the table, she moved towards her bed and by her bed table, where she kept the remote.

As she approached, sounds of screaming started to play before she pressed a button, making it abruptly cut off. She pressed it again, grinning madly as it was erased.

"If you say you're feeling well, Tsu-kun, I'm sure it's fine."

* * *

Tsuna struggled, trying to remove the ring.

_Why won't it come off?_

It wasn't uncomfortable. Rather, it was quite smug on his finger. But it refused to come off, even if it perfectly fit on his finger. He was wasting valuable time. Tsuna sighed, accepting the fate of having jewelry permanently on his finger, at least for now, and grabbed his bag by his desk before going down the stairs, making sure not to trip on anything.

"Ah, Tsu-kun! Just on time!" His mother beamed from the stove, placing the eggs on the bed of rice as Tsuna took a seat by the table. Nana placed it in front of him with his daily bowl of miso and a glass of apple juice this time.

"Itadakimasu," Tsuna murmured as he picked up his spoon.

Nana smiled as she watched her son eat his breakfast, spying the deep blue ring on his finger. Neither saying anything as time passed by quietly.

Nothing was wrong at all.

* * *

"Tsu-chan~!" Byakuran placed his arm over the brunet, having thoughts about the events prior fading away. "How're you feeling?"

"F-fine, thank you," Tsuna quietly replied, wondering where Shoichi was.

"Sho-chan's already in school, early tutoring sessions." Byakuran said, as if reading Tsuna's mind. He actually jumped, looking at his white haired friend as he smiled widely at him.

"I… I see," Tsuna replied, accepting when Byakuran took a hold of his hand. He didn't expect the hard squeeze, expecting a gentle, teasing one as the one he usually received.

"Where did you get this?" All of the jokes were out of his voice as he turned to Tsuna, holding his hand high to study and touch the ring on his finger.

"Eh heh heh," Tsuna smiled nervously. "I don't know..." He tried to pull his hand away, but Byakuran refused to let go.

"U-uh, Byakuran-san," Tsuna said quietly, trying harder to remove himself from his grasp. "It's too tight..." Byakuran said nothing, and tightened his grip instead, making Tsuna wince. He was about to attempt to pull the ring off when a voice made him refrain from doing so.

"Sawada-san!"

He was finally released and Tsuna turned to the new voice. He didn't see Byakuran's eyes harden at the red head who didn't meet the white haired man's gaze as he was focused on Tsuna instead.

"K-Kozato-san!" Tsuna exclaimed, surprised that he was there. He's always in school by the time he got there. "What are you doing here?" he asked rather bluntly.

Enma smiled as he simply backed away from the pair, holding his hands up in defense as he noticed Byakuran's hostility. "Nothing really, I just wanted to say hi, Sawada-san."

"Hi?" Tsuna blinked, what brought this up? They've never spoken a line of dialogue to one another until yesterday.

Flashes of what happened yesterday flew through Tsuna's mind, making him stagger a bit before Enma grabbed onto his arm tightly to prevent himself from falling.

"That was close," Tsuna heard Enma mutter as he helped him get back to his feet. Enma smiled as he let go, not glancing at the brunet's companion. He briefly brushed his hand over Tsuna's, making it burn with a strange heat that was comforting yet painful at the same time for a second before the red head ran off without another word.

Byakuran glared at Enma before turning his attention back to Tsuna, who was panting, clutching his hand close to his chest. He closed his eyes, trying to gain his wits about him as he felt a cold surface brush over his forehead, easing him somewhat.

Tsuna could feel it. Things were about to get weird, as always.

"You still sick, Tsu-chan?" Byakuran asked, concerned.

Tsuna took calming breaths, rubbing his eye. "I'm fine." He gently attempted to push Byakuran from him, blushing slightly. Like always, he failed as he was weaker than his friend.

Byakuran didn't reply, but placed his arm over Tsuna's waist and the brunet's arm over his own. He bent down and placed his forehead to Tsuna's again, whose breathing calmed.

"Faint traces of fever..." He muttered before placing his lips over Tsuna's, the two sharing a chaste kiss before Byakuran deepened it, coaxing reluctant lips to crack open.

Something in Tsuna shivered, as if someone was watching the two kiss. He wanted to turn to where he was sure the person was, but Byakuran wanted his full attention and held the brunet tightly, not allowing him to move his head.

Finally, Tsuna relented and allowed a small space for Byakuran to slip his tongue in, receiving a taste of marshmallows as he gave the flavor of vanilla in return. He felt himself grow light-headed as they remained lip-locked for a few more moments before Byakuran broke it off, smiling widely.

He placed his forehead on the brunet's again. "It's gone, great! Let's get going, don't want to be late." He took Tsuna's arm and began to skip to the school, dragging dazed Tsuna along.

It was always weird going to school without Shoichi to distract Tsuna's walking companion.

At least his fever was gone.

* * *

"Today I'm going to tell you something very important," Spanner started his lecture, Tsuna faintly paying attention. Sure he said it was important, but that's what he said about the towels, the coconut shampoo and cherry conditioner, and the newspapers and magazines about _Lost Christmas_. None of those things appearing on his exams. So he let his eyes wander over to the empty seat at the front, where the new student's desk was.

It was only his second day, and he was out? Was it his eye? He did have to go to the Nurse's Office for his eye. Although, Tsuna never did actually see if he did go to the Office.

… It wouldn't have to do with what happened yesterday, would it?

He blinked, not wanting to think about it. Refocusing, he felt gazes aimed at him from different angles of the room. One from his left, one from his right, and one from the farthest right. And, perhaps one from the window. But he doubt the last one. He shivered, slumping down into his seat as he took out the pen from his mouth and let his hand wander as he tried to pay attention to notes that will most likely not be very important.

Spanner bit into his watermelon lollipop, Tsuna mentally resigning his marzipan to Byakuran and Shoichi before focusing on his teacher's words.

"Contrary to popular, idiotic, belief, never in the canon - that is the stories by Arthur Conan Doyle - did famous fictional consulting detective Sherlock Holmes ever mutter the words," He cleared his voice in an attempt for an English accent. "'Elementary, my dear Watson,' to his companion Doctor John Watson." He sucked on his candy as he picked up a book and tossed it back on the desk.

"This phrase was never uttered by the character in any of Arthur Conan Doyle's written works. Though 'elementary,'" He dragged on with air quotes. "and 'my dear Watson'," He used air quotes again. "both do appear near the beginning of _The Crooked Man_, which was published in 1893. It is the 'my dear Watson'," Back with the air quotes. "line that appears first, and 'elementary'," Hopefully the last of the air quotes. "is the short and snappy reply to Watson's exclamation a few lines of dialogue later. These are the closest these four words ever appear together in the canon."

Tsuna rolled his eyes, looking down in his book to see what notes he had written down, until he caught the time. The bell rang at the perfect moment and Spanner walked out before the second ring. Closing his book, he got up from his seat and quickly moved out the door right after his teacher, before anyone of those owners of gazers could stop him.

* * *

Going to the Nurse's Office everyday was a pain, but it was part of the usual routine so Tsuna resigned himself to his fate and went inside without another complaint. As always, it was empty, save for himself. He sighed, taking his usual spot by his bed before going to lay in it, yawning a bit before pulling the curtains to hide himself from prying eyes. He reached into his bag to take out a notebook.

"Great, you're alone. This makes everything so much more easier."

Tsuna turned to the window to see that baby he saw yesterday, staring at the baby's obsidians with his chocolate diamonds. A strange sense of déjà vu shivered through Tsuna as he found himself caught in the eyes that held so much yet spoke nothing at all.

"I see you've passed the test. As expected." He glanced over at Tsuna's right hand, where the blue twinkled at him. "Let me see it."

Not knowing how else to reply, Tsuna just held up his hand to the baby to let him see what he requested, still not understanding what was so important about it. Still, he knew that it was, if it wasn't obvious by the fact that he couldn't take it off.

"It… won't come off," Tsuna confessed, trying to take it off to prove it. To his surprise, it easily slid off his finger and was now in between the tips of his thumb and middle finger of his left hand. He blinked, stunned at how easily it came off in contrast to being impossible to do so this morning. "Eh?"

"Give it here." The baby held out his hand and Tsuna handed it over, having no reason to not do so.

"You're, um, Reborn, right?" At least that was what he thought he heard yesterday. What a strange name.

"For Enma, it's an alias. I'm not one to reveal my true name, Sawada Tsunayoshi," was his answer as Reborn studied the ring, gazing into it carefully. "It's starting out with Lapis lazuli." He smirked. "Interesting."

Tsuna blinked, looking into the gem. Now that it was no longer attached his finger, he was able to get a better focus on it. The gem had a deep blue color that contained sparkles glimmering in the sunlight like this morning. "Lapis… lazuli?" He smiled sweetly; it was a pleasing name to roll off his tongue.

Reborn noticed his smile. "A little lesson for you. The melodious name is composed from 'lapis', the Latin word for stone, and the Arabic word 'azula', meaning blue. It is regarded by many people around the world as the stone of friendship and truth and is said to encourage harmony. The small inclusions with their golden shimmer are not of gold as people think, but by pyrites because of iron. The blue color comes from the sulphur content of the lazurite and may range from pure ultramarine to a lighter blue," he told him.

Okay, so maybe Tsuna gave himself too much credit as a student, because he didn't listen to a word Reborn just said.

"Ultramarine, by the way, means something along the lines of 'from beyond the sea'." Reborn looked up from his explanation to see Tsuna enchanted by the gem the ring held.

"It's like the starry night sky," Tsuna couldn't help but murmur, mesmerized by the beauty. As a result, he didn't catch Reborn's twisted grin that flashed through before it disappeared.

"Do you see this exceptionally bright twinkle, Dame-Tsuna?" Reborn pointed it out to the brunet, who watched it twinkle brighter than the rest. Tsuna stared at it, captivated by its brightness that did, now that it was pointed out, outshine the rest. Although he knew that the brunet wasn't really paying attention to his words anymore, Reborn continued, "It means that there's a gem much more valuable hidden underneath this one."

Tsuna widened his eyes. "A-another gem?"

Reborn turned to him, his face sporting a poker quality. "Did you know, Tsuna, that only the rings that contain two gems are the rings that prove that you have been chosen?"

"C-chosen?"

Reborn tsked, annoyed. "You must fix your stuttering problem, Dame-Tsuna. But yes, you are one of the very few that have been chosen." He gave back the ring, but when Tsuna was about to put it in his pocket, he snatched it back and placed it back on his finger, tightly. Tsuna looked at it before attempting to take it off. To his distress, it wouldn't come off.

"W-what?" He tugged on harder, but it was as if it was glued on. And it came off so easily before!

Reborn ignored him and looked up to the moderately cloudy sky before looking to the door. "Speak with Enma and you'll discover more. I must go, business to attend to. I'll be back and meet up with you later," the baby said before fading away, making Tsuna do a double-take. He rubbed his eyes and stared at where Reborn was previously.

But the baby was gone.

* * *

Soon he'll be able to leave. He can go meet up with Shoichi and Byakuran with school being over in just a few minutes. Then go buy them some of that marzipan that he wasn't too fond of anyway. He had to admit though, their shapes were cute and colorful. But their taste was just awful in his opinion, no matter what Byakuran said.

"Sawada-san, can I speak to you for a moment? It's kinda important."

Tsuna jumped, and looked up from his doodling to see Kozato Enma by his bed, rubbing his arm and on the lookout for anyone nearby. But there wasn't anyone nearby. He had made his move at the perfect time. After all, Tsuna was doodling in his notebook in the Nurse's Office.

Stupid medication.

Tsuna quickly closed his notebook, hoping that he didn't see anything in it. His notebooks were something that he didn't like to share. "U-uh, s-sure, Kozato-san," Tsuna replied, looking up to the red head and gave him a rather weak smile. "What's up?"

Enma smiled shyly back, reaching out a hand. "Could I see it?"

"E-eh?" Before he could properly reply, Enma grabbed Tsuna's right hand, gazing the ring on his middle finger. He eyed it carefully, studying it, admiring it. "Beautiful..." he breathed very quietly. Tsuna heard it but it quickly left his mind when Enma raised Tsuna's hand to his lips and kissed the gem the ring held.

Tsuna pulled back, hiding his hand with his other, surprised and slightly horrified at Enma's crude behavior. "W-what are you doing, Kozato-san?" Tsuna demanded, confused with the whole situation.

"I'd like to explain what happened. But now's not the time, so I'll meet up with you later." And with a turn, Tsuna blinked as the red head walked away before the brunet could answer him with a reply.

"Be careful, Sawada-san, people aren't whom they appear or claim to be," Tsuna heard Enma whisper before turning the door.

Tsuna looked back to his notebook, being held from falling off the bed by his hand. He placed the notebook on his lap and raised his hand to his eye level, studying the ring on his finger.

Something compelled for him to turn, so Tsuna turned to the door to see Rokudo Mukuro at the door. The new student walked into the room, seemly ignoring Tsuna, until he walked up to him. Tsuna paid him no mind and tried to ignore him until Mukuro took hold of his shoulders, gazing deeply into his eyes and causing for Tsuna to wince from his tight grip.

Finally he spoke first. "Did he speak to you?"

Tsuna blinked. "E-eh? W-who?"

Mismatched ruby and sapphire shifted from chocolate diamond to the lapis lazuli on his finger and Tsuna heard Mukuro curse under his breath in a language that he didn't understand before releasing him and storming out of the Office.

Tsuna just stared at the door. "… E-eh?"

Then the bell rang.

* * *

Shoichi continued with his rant, "But seriously, it was ridiculous. I had to show him like four times that the answer was that the problem was impossible to solve. It's people like that cause for me to weep for the future." His eyes caught a glimmer of blue. "Hey, Tsuna-kun, what's that?"

Tsuna looked over to see what Shoichi was asking about. "Oh, that? It's... hang on a sec." He took his change from the cashier and led three of them to a booth.

Byakuran narrowed his eyes at Shoichi, who looked back to him and shivered under the lilac glare. Tsuna finally found their usual spot and the three took a seat inside the booth before the marshmallow obsessed member of their group grabbed his plate of marzipan. "I don't know why you don't like marzipan, Tsu-chan," Byakuran said, licking his fork. "Almond paste! And it looks so cute too!" He picked up his piece decorated to look like a penguin and kissed it before popping it in his mouth.

Tsuna smiled. "It's just not my thing." He looked over to Shoichi, who was staring blankly at Byakuran as he ate his and Tsuna's portion, which was shaped like a rabbit. "You were saying, Irie-san?"

"Huh? O-oh, it was nothing, nothing at all." Shoichi looked away, slipping his hand through for his own plate of marzipan. "Just about the kid I was tutoring." He sighed.

"But, Irie-san," Tsuna said as he bit into his cucumber sandwich, "You were tutoring a college student. I'm your age, and I don't even know what we're learning about for our lessons now." He sighed and kept his gaze down. "Maybe I'm one of those failures that will ruin the next generation."

"D-don't say that, Tsuna-kun!" Shoichi exclaimed, standing up and banging on the table. "Just because of what happened - "

"We are not talking about it." Byakuran cut him off. He looked up to the red head and smiled sickly sweet. "Shoichi, isn't it time for you to go to your prep classes?"

Shoichi backed down hastily. "O-oh, yes, you're right." He got up to grab his book bag. "I… I'll see you both later, then." He left without another word.

Byakuran turned to the brunet, who was nibbling quietly on his sandwich, still looking down. "Tsu-chan, what brought this up all of a sudden?"

Tsuna sighed, placing down his sandwich onto the tray it was previously on, gaze upon it. "Everything's been so weird lately, and that's not including you. Just…"

Byakuran reached out for Shoichi's abandoned marzipan, which was in the shape of a frog. He pulled the plate closer to him and stabbed into its head. He asked, "Was it Reborn? Did he approach you again?"

Tsuna looked up, confused. "Eh?"

Byakuran continued to stab the little frog into little pieces. "Or perhaps it was Kozato." His eyes hardened. "I was there yesterday, Tsu-chan, remember? I saw Reborn. And Kozato was with him, knew him. Trust me, Tsu-chan, you don't want to associate with those two."

Tsuna looked up, he was supposedly to meet up with Enma later on sometime today. "B-but…"

"Everything's fine the way it is, don't get involved with them." Byakuran continued to smash the treat into a finer paste. "That includes Mukuro as well."

This confused Tsuna even further. "M-Mukuro-kun?"

Byakuran was ruthless in his assault of Shoichi's frog. "If you ever need anything, I'm here for you, Tsunayoshi." He looked up to the dazed Tsuna and smiled sweetly. "Just like Nana-chan."

Tsuna's gaze was far away. "Kaa...san…"

Byakuran finally stopped destroying the frog, it now just a mess of lime green. He scooped up the frog remains and devoured it, its lack of visual appeal not bothering him in the slightest. "It's almost sunset, no?" They looked over out the window to watch the sun start its slow decent down. "Let's get you home."

His mother's gentle, subtle breakdown yesterday came back to Tsuna.

"O… okay."

* * *

Wow, the doorbell was ringing. That never happens this late at night.

"I got it, Kaa-san!" Tsuna quickly got up to answer the door, to save his mom the trouble of doing so.

When he opened it, he blinked at who he saw outside.

Enma smiled softly. "Hey, Sawada-san. You're alone, save for your mom, right?" He pulled the brunet outside, who was too stunned at his company to protest. "Let's go have that discussion. I'm sure I can answer most of your questions you have."

* * *

A/N: Cliffhanger somewhat. Sorry about that, but this chapter's starting to get a little long.

I really want to work on my other Reborn fic, which would be like G27 or 2772 or something along those lines, but since I already have this halfway done I decided to finish this chapter first.

I have a poll on my profile, if you all would be so kind as to take it? It would help me a lot. Please and thank you!

And, least but not last, please review and thanks for reading!


	3. I'm Not Afraid of Anything Anymore

QVR: Strange Enma drags confused Tsuna out of his house to provide explanations.

* * *

Chapter Three: I'm Not Afraid of Anything Anymore

* * *

_I feel light.  
__It's the first time I've been this happy while fighting.  
__I'm not scared of anything anymore.  
__I'm not alone anymore._

* * *

Tsuna can't remember the last time he actually saw the sky at night outside of his bedroom window. He doesn't believe he's ever actually seen it at all without its protective layer in between. He's always wanted to be able to go up there and pluck the stars from their place and hold it carefully in his arms, giving it the comfort he always wanted for himself. It must be lonely all the way up there. Even after Shoichi told him that they are just made of gas. It was a dream he always had, and reality isn't going to take it from him.

It already took too much as is.

The night sky was much more beautiful outside the glass, and Tsuna couldn't help but stare up high as he allowed himself to be dragged away from the safety of his home and out into the dangers of the night by his strange classmate. He stared at Enma, unsure if he should thank him.

Enma laughed, amused at the brunet's wonderment of the outside. "Wow, Sawada-san, it's as if you've never been outside at night before!"

Those words made Tsuna stop in his tracks, making Enma recoil back from lack of movement. He grew wide eyed as the brunet attempted to tug himself free, exclaiming, "I'm not allowed out at night! Let me go!"

"Nonsense, Dame-Tsuna, I've already received permission from Maman."

Tsuna immediately quit his struggles as he turned to see that strange baby again. "… Reborn?"

Enma frowned at the sight of Reborn emerging from the trees. "I thought we were to meet you at the Park."

Reborn jumped onto Tsuna's right shoulder, making him flinch. "Plans have changed, you know that they tend to happen. Let's go over to the Fountains."

"Change of plans, Sawada-san." Enma spun him around and tugged him to another direction. "Let's go to the Fountains. They're actually really pretty at night. I'm sure that you'll like it."

"O-okay." Tsuna let himself be dragged along, not knowing what or where the fountains are either. He doesn't get out much.

"Dame-Tsuna, are you blind?"

Reborn was suddenly in his face, and Tsuna backed up for a bit from the baby, eyes wide. "W-what makes you say that?"

Reborn frowned, but said nothing as Enma brought Tsuna to a town square with a marble water fountain in the middle, gently flowing water into its pool as it reflected the various street lights that surrounded the area. He took a seat on the bench beside it and motioned for Tsuna to do the same.

Water suddenly burst up from the floor, and Tsuna jumped as he tried to avoid falling into it. He shut his eyes, an immediate reaction from the sudden movement. Enma quickly grabbed his arm to steady him and held him tightly. "Open your eyes, Sawada-san."

Tsuna opened his eyes to see a multitude of colors the water sprayed as it gently began to flow up against gravity due to the pressure. It was as if the water was reflecting the rainbow spectrum from a piece of glass. "Wow..." he awed in amazement.

Enma laughed, smiling at the brunet who was captivated by the colors. "Tsuna," he said, suddenly getting serious, "Do you know the history of the Famiglia?"

Tsuna turned to the redhead and blinked, he wasn't expecting that. "The... the Famiglia?" What did he know about the Famiglia? It sounded foreign… Italian? All he remembered is that Italians liked to wear suits and fedoras and spoke in Italian, at least usually and stereotypically. Come to think of it, Reborn looks like somewhat that would belong in that world. "Isn't that in, like, Italy?"

Enma smiled but shook his head. "Before it was. Now it's on a global scale, this time particularly located in Japan. Or Namimori specifically."

Reborn jumped from Tsuna's shoulder and onto his lap. He spun to face the brunet, and only spoke when Tsuna met his black eyes. "Dame-Tsuna, did you show Enma your ring yet?"

Tsuna blinked. "My… my ring?" The one that Reborn was talking about earlier this afternoon in the Nurse's Office? Tsuna mentally smacked himself. Well _obviously_, what other ring did he own that everyone seemed to be so fixated on?

Reborn grabbed his hand, bringing it towards the sky. "I'll take over from here, Enma," he said before lowering Tsuna's hand back to his lap. Nodding, Enma got up to leave, but Reborn tugged on his sleeve before he could get far and brought him in front of the two of them. "Stay. It will probably be better for Tsuna."

Enma gulped, suddenly nervous now. "B-but the others -"

"Will not bring any harm to you if they were to swear their loyalty to him," Reborn replied, rubbing on Tsuna's ring as if it was a precious thing. "I do not believe Tsuna has any ill intentions against you." He smirked, an evil glint in his eye. "And if he does, then you must seriously have done something wrong for him to hate you so."

"What's going on?" Tsuna interrupted, terribly confused. "I don't hate Kozato-san. But… what does this have to do with anything, with me?"

"Tsuna, was there ever anything that you truly wanted? Something that you could do if you had the power to do so?" Reborn started, answering Tsuna's questions with even more questions.

Tsuna thought about it.

"Is there something that you want to change in the world, any wish or desire?" Enma added on softly, for emphasis as he bent down to Tsuna's eyelevel. The brunet blinked at their sudden close proximity, noticing the redhead's strange pupils. Enma smiled… in a twisted sort of sense, but Tsuna couldn't look away. "It could be anything at all, Sawada-san. No matter how impossible or silly you think it is, is there anything you want?"

Tsuna blinked. Did... did he have something he wanted?

He smiled softly, millions of possibilities coming to him. He could wish for better grades, he could wish to stop being so clumsy, he could wish to touch the stars, he could wish for cake _made _of stars - Tsuna faintly wondered what that would taste like - or maybe he could wish for his cat to come back to life.

He could wish for world peace, he could wish for courage to finally stand up for himself and not have others do it for him or maybe to finally ask questions about his life, he could wish for no death, he could wish for his father to come back, he could wish to help his mom.

Or... he could wish to cure his illness.

"I..."

Suddenly, the air grew toxic, and Tsuna started to cough, its familiar smell getting to him.

_Cigarette smoke_…?

"You! You dare to show your face again? _Here _of all places?"

Enma stood frigid, turning slightly. "Go... Gokudera-kun?"

Tsuna peeked from behind Enma to spot another classmate. This one was never in class, but he had perfect grades so it didn't really matter. And when he was in class, he would just leave right after.

That honor student delinquent, Gokudera Hayato.

Enma began to nervously laugh. "Go-Gokudera-kun, what are you doing out this late at night?" He tried to look over to find Tsuna, who watched on with curious interest, but with Reborn nowhere to be found.

Enma was really worried now. "Re-Reborn!" he stuttered out, looking for the baby in question.

Tsuna heard Gokudera smirk from behind Enma. "If he's not here, then he can't help you." He raised both of his hands, sticks of dynamite between his fingers were lit as he brushed the tips against his cigarette. Tsuna caught a glint of red on Gokudera's finger before the TNT in his hands took his full attention.

Tsuna jumped off the bench. "D-dynamite!"

One second Gokudera was across from them, the next he was pushing Enma to the ground, the sprinklers long off and something twinkled orange before scattering into the wind. Tsuna quickly got up and ran over to where the redhead had fallen, trying to help him recover.

"Kozato-san, Kozato-san!" He gently shook him, but his efforts were in vain. Enma hit the floor hard enough to make him pass out. Tsuna heard footsteps from behind him, and quickly turned to spot the delinquent slowly making his way towards them. Gokudera spat on the ground, picking out his cigarette before he tossed it on the floor and rubbed it into the cobblestone floor, the smell of acidic smoke still in the air. He narrowed his eyes at the brunet in front of him, who trembled. "Sawada Tsunayoshi, what are you of all people doing here?"

Tsuna gulped, looking for Reborn, for anyone who could help him from this crazy armed guy. Not finding anyone, he had to stall. "I..."

"No Millefiore around? That's a first." Gokudera looked around before his smile turned feral. "No Hibari either. You're totally defenseless. What a golden opportunity. Now I can discover what makes you so important." He raised an arm to strike the brunet, causing for Tsuna to instinctively raise his arms in a form of defense, shutting his eyes tight as he shook in fear.

He expected a harsh blow to smack him down right next to Enma but after a few moments opened his eyes to a strange sight since he was unharmed.

Tsuna blinked, confused. "Eh?"

Gokudera was struggling for words. "Your… You are..."

"W-what?" Tsuna looked around and found nothing around him, save the passed out Enma and the steady stream of water from the fountain. "What is it? What happened? Am I going to live?"

Gokudera fell to the floor, kneeling to the brunet. "You're... the tenth one, aren't you? Reborn has chosen you?"

Tsuna blinked. "E-eh?"

"What are you going to do if I did?"

The two turned to find the baby sitting on the bench, petting a green chameleon in his hands as he watched the pair in front of them, ignoring the incapacitated one on the floor. Reborn continued, "What are you going to do about it, Gokudera? Are you going to challenge him? Are you going to take his ring away from him?" He smirked. "Can you even if you tried?"

"W-wait just a minute!" Tsuna exclaimed, trying to pick himself up from the ground. He was surprised and confused when Gokudera helped him up. "Huh?"

"O-of course not, Reborn!" He whispered to the baby, not intending for Tsuna to hear but he heard it all the same. But even if Tsuna could hear, it was meaningless if he didn't understand what language they were speaking in. Tsuna did notice when Gokudera widened his eyes as if in a revelation, and he did mention Byakuran and Hibari-san. The language sounded familiar though, as if he'd heard similar words earlier that day... Now he remembered. Rokudo Mukuro in the Nurse's Office. Different words, but it sounded similar enough.

"I believe that they have some ulterior motive, but I'm not too sure of the details as of yet," Reborn replied in Japanese, mostly for Tsuna's benefit. Regardless of the kind gesture, it was meaningless since Tsuna had no idea what they were talking about. Gokudera then said the same words Tsuna heard earlier from the heterochrome, cursing in that same language.

This whole situation was just so confusing, it didn't make any sense. What was going on exactly? Tsuna didn't know, didn't know if he wanted to know. He wanted to go home and rest. Tsuna held his head, feeling faint. Gokudera held Tsuna steady as he started to sway, cradling him carefully in his arms.

This is why he's not allowed out at night. It must be very late. Did his mother really allow for him to go out with someone he's never even spoken to until just yesterday? Maybe. He wouldn't put it past her.

"Juudaime!" Gokudera exclaimed, feeling Tsuna's forehead and checking his temperature. He looked over to the baby, but Tsuna couldn't tell what expression he had as he closed his eyes. He heard the honor delinquent whisper, "Reborn... is he really…?"

"Dame-Tsuna, your health is an annoying factor, but the rings do not lie." Tsuna heard him jump off the bench and footsteps indicated he was moving closer to them as well as his voice was getting louder. "These interruptions are starting to mess up my schedule." Tsuna cracked his eyes open to watch Reborn pick up Enma's left hand and picked out his middle finger. In Reborn's fingers was something glinting orange in the light as he replaced a ring on Enma's finger. He placed his yellow glass pacifier around his neck to the gem in the ring, and it glowed before enveloping the redhead in that strange light. Tsuna opened his eyes wider to watch but Gokudera seemed bored. Finally, the light started to dim and Enma recovered slowly but surely.

Enma picked himself up from the ground, trying to dignify himself as he regained his composure. He tried to take back his breath as he sat down on the ground. "Wha... what took you, Reborn?"

"Kozato-san..." Tsuna whimpered as he reached out for the redhead, and Gokudera loosened his hold on him.

Reborn didn't answer, but looked over to Gokudera and Tsuna instead. "Before we continue, Tsuna, what say do you, Gokudera? And I assume you speak for Yamamoto as well?" Reborn turned to the trees, and Tsuna watched another classmate of his step out of the cover of the shade of trees and into the dim light in the Fountain Square.

It was... that baseball star student, Yamamoto Takeshi. Tsuna didn't know that Gokudera and Yamamoto were associated with each other. In fact, he was pretty sure he'd seen them argue with one another when they barely even spoken to each other at all. Then again, he was always distracted with his own friends, Byakuran and Shoichi. Yamamoto walked over to the four of them, kneeling down to Reborn with that carefree, wide, trademark smile that he was so famous for. "Heya, Reborn. It's been awhile, hasn't it?"

Reborn looked up and smiled back, although not as wide. "Ciaossu, Yamamoto. And it was your fault, you both know that you two are just Guardians." He eyed the blue on Yamamoto's finger before his smile turned into a smirk. "Neither of you could have become a Boss even if you wanted to."

"There was no one worthy!" exclaimed Gokudera, glaring at Enma, who flinched under his gaze. "I'll be damned if I follow under this failure of a Boss!"

"Mah, mah." Yamamoto raised his hands in an attempt to calm his... friend? down. Tsuna didn't know, he was still so confused. He tried to scoot over to Enma, at least he had more familiar ground with him than with them. It didn't go unnoticed by the newest member of the group. "Calm down, Hayato. I think you're starting to scare Tsuna."

Tsuna looked over to Yamamoto, with that smile, with a tilt of his head. When were they so familiar with one another to call each other without honorifics? Or does he always speak like that?

Gokudera immediately calmed down, moving to comfort Tsuna. "Are you alright, Juudaime? I'm so sorry!"

Tsuna shied away from the touch, not wanting any physical contact between anyone as he finally released himself from Gokudera's hold. "I-It's fine, but I'm really confused," he confessed. "Why are you calling me 'Juudaime'?"

Gokudera took Tsuna's hand, making him go 'Hie!' as he pulled the both of them from the ground. He paid it no mind as he declared, "Juudiame is Juudiame! I will stand by your side as your right-hand man! No matter what!" Gokudera swore.

Yamamoto laughed. "I'll swear my loyalty to you too, Tsuna. I'll follow you to wherever you want me to go."

Tsuna widened his eyes as the words sunk in. He turned from Gokudera, who was still holding onto his hands tightly, to stare at Yamamoto, who smiled as he knelt down to Tsuna as a knight would to a king. He jerked back from the both of them. "Ehhhhhhh?"

Enma finally picked himself up from the ground, and Reborn jumped onto his head. No one noticed Reborn's wicked smile as Tsuna tried to deny their loyalty, not even knowing what it's for in the first place.

"Tsuna, accept them as members of your Famiglia," Reborn highly suggested as he jumped from Enma's head and onto Tsuna's. "Then I'll explain everything, without any interruptions this time. I also expect an answer from my previous question before Gokudera disturbed us."

Tsuna looked up to try and look at the baby on his head. "W-what?"

"Do it, Sawada-san," Enma encouraged as he approached the brunet. "You have a gift that most Bosses would die for."

Tsuna turned to him, still confused. "A... a gift?"

Enma moved to his ear, ignoring the glare from Gokudera as he whispered, "A gift to have anyone follow you, no matter who they are or what you've done." He grabbed Tsuna's shoulder and tightened his grip on it. "Utilize it." He released him and pushed him towards the Guardians.

"Juudaime!" Gokudera stopped glaring at Enma and raised his arms in a prayer to the brunet, who stepped back from him and unknowingly towards Yamamoto as a result. "Please accept us!"

"Come on, Tsuna," Yamamoto added, "I've always wanted to be friends with you." His smile deflated slightly, falling into a small frown. "But Millefoire-san always told us to stay away, told everyone to stay away from you." He held out his hand. "I think we can all get along quite nicely."

Tsuna was caught up on those last words, stepping back even more, towards the fountain. "Bya… Byakuran-san told everyone to stay away from me? Wh… Why?"

Reborn looked up to the sky, starting to become cloudy. He jumped off of Tsuna's hair and onto his left shoulder. "We keep getting interrupted. I can't say I like it one bit." He frowned. "We don't have any time left here. They've found us. We need to get moving. At Dame-Tsuna's current state, he can do nothing. Besides, I believe he's long due explanations. And I still need the answers to certain questions."

"We can all go to my house and finish there," Enma offered, "I live nearby." Wait, they were still going to continue this? Didn't he need to go home? What time was it?

"Do you have the proper protection? Juudaime isn't ready for this yet," Gokudera raised his arm to act as a barrier between the redhead and brunet. Even if Tsuna has yet to accept him, he was going to protect him. Tsuna stared, first Gokudera wanted to kill him and now he wants to protect him? Weird.

Jolly laughter broke into Tsuna's thoughts. "Of course he does, Hayato," Yamamoto pat Tsuna on the back and pulled him into a hold by the neck. "If he didn't, we would have killed him by now." His voice turned deathly serious but playful at the same time. Tsuna shivered, it somewhat familiar. Yamamoto released him then and moved close to his partner.

Gokudera gave Yamamoto a slight nod as he narrowed his eyes at Enma. "Lucky for him that Juudaime likes him. Very well, take us to your home, Kozato."

Enma stared at Gokudera before turning to Tsuna. He gave the brunet a millisecond of a curt smile before turning and beginning to lead the way. Gokudera and Yamamoto began to follow, but Tsuna hesitated.

What was he doing? What was going on? Did he want to continue with what was currently happening? Was it about to rain, is that why they have to leave? Tsuna didn't know what to do.

"Dame-Tsuna, your mother gave me permission to have you out all night, so don't worry about her," Reborn whispered in his ear. "Follow them, and everything will be fine. After all," Reborn looked up to the moon, not that Tsuna could see. "the sun has yet to set. The fun hasn't even begun."

Tsuna continued to hesitate but as a chilling wind blew down his spine, eventually started to follow after his three classmates who he had learned more about that he ever cared to, breaking into a dash to catch up with the three that were going too far for his liking.

* * *

"You know, if you ever betray us, now that we know where you live you aren't safe," Yamamoto said lightly as they stepped inside Enma's apartment. "Just keep it in mind."

Enma shivered, but nodded as what he said was right. "R-right."

Tsuna stared inside, he's never been in someone else's living quarters save Byakuran's before. It was... a little tight for four people, but it will have to do. Enma led them all to his room, where there was a table set up, but only for two in contrast to the four of them there. Gokudera noticed. "Were you planning on this with Juudaime?"

The redhead didn't answer. Instead, he gently took Tsuna's hand and led him down beside him, with Gokudera and Yamamoto following closely. After they took a seat, Reborn hopped off the sienna hair to the table as Enma got up and left the room. Tsuna raised a hand to stop him, but Reborn made him lower it.

"He'll be back, he's just getting some refreshments," Reborn told him, and Tsuna nodded faintly. "But until then, Dame-Tsuna, you should accept your Guardians." Reborn gestured to the two they had met at the Fountains. "Accept them now."

"Please, Juudaime, I shall not fail you!" Gokudera pleaded, bowing low to Tsuna.

"Wouldn't it be fun, Tsuna?" Yamamoto added, smiling his smile.

His mouth was dry. What should he do? Why was Byakuran lying to him after all this time? Why would they suddenly want to be his friends now? All these questions were swirling in Tsuna's head, and he didn't want to say anything until he knew exactly what he was getting into.

"I..."

Enma returned with tea, taking a seat. Tsuna sighed of relief, maybe the tea could take the horrible taste in his mouth. Reborn passed out the cups, but Gokudera grabbed Tsuna's before the brunet could take it. He eyed the liquid through the transparent glass, as if studying it for any poison.

Apparently he was. "It's clean." He handed it back to Tsuna, who faintly nodded as he accepted it. He took a sip, and jerked back from how strong it was. It made him slightly dizzy. But it was tasty, and he couldn't stop drinking some more.

"So, Dame-Tsuna, what do you say?" Reborn asked, watching Tsuna drink some more.

He smiled, feeling slightly bubbly from the beverage. "Sure, sure. I would love to have more friends." After all, friends don't lie to each other. Friends protected each other.

And maybe Tsuna needed a new group of friends.

Gokudera and Yamamoto smiled widely and Tsuna giggled when they took his hand and chastely kissed it.

Enma hid his smile behind his glass as the Guardians turned to Reborn. "Reborn."

Reborn's eyes could not be seen from under his fedora hat. "I approve of this. He may have not yet accepted it, but at least he'll have more protection this way.

"Now, do you have an answer, Dame-Tsuna?"

Tsuna blinked, the high the tea gave him was starting to go down. He clutched his head, fatigue coming back to him in a rush. "An answer…?"

"Any wish you want?" Enma reminded.

Oh, Tsuna almost forgot about that.

"Juudaime, you haven't accepted yet?" Gokudera was surprised. Yamamoto's eyes widened, but both of their fires burned hotter with realization of how much weight was thrust upon them.

"It just means we need to protect him even more, Hayato," the other Guardian said, picking himself up. Gokudera nodded as he got up as well.

"Are you an ally, Kozato?" he asked, both of them glaring at the redhead. "Can we trust you with our Boss?"

"I'm the only one who he could be honest to, you two are merely Guardians. For Tsuna's benefit, I suggest you two leave." He smirked. "This information is only classified for Bosses only."

Gokudera grinded his teeth, but Enma was right. Yamamoto placed his hand on his shoulder, trying to calm him down.

"He's right, you two," Reborn said, turning towards the door. "You can all get together at the school tomorrow. After all, Byakuran and Hibari are sure to make their move now that you two have revealed yourselves." He smirked as the two kneeled to Tsuna, who was caught in a daze, before leaving without another word.

Tsuna's eyes hurt. He was really tired. Did he make the right decision? Did he betray Byakuran? But Byakuran betrayed him! He didn't know.

"An answer, Tsuna." Reborn said, ignoring the brunet's condition as he approached him. "I need one, we need one."

Tsuna blinked, trying to regain his focus. "Reborn, I…" He passed out on the table.

"Oops, I think I gave him too little, Reborn," Enma said, gently picking up Tsuna from the table. He brushed his hair away from his face, studying Tsuna's face. He couldn't help but smile at how innocent and carefree he looked. For now, anyway. "But at least he has his Guardians."

"He already had two," Reborn said, studying Tsuna's face as well. He placed his small hand on his right cheek, before moving up to his eye. "But now he has four. But only those two are official and recognized."

Enma widened his eyes as he turned to the infant, whose expression was unreadable. "Hibari I get, but who was the other?"

Reborn smirked. "Enma, it's no fun if you know everything. You're not even that important. In fact, after Tsuna accepts his fate, you're of no help to me anymore. But I'm not worried. After all, you know enough."

Enma's frowned tightly. He knew what Reborn meant but it was out of his hands. After all, he was the one who revealed one of Tsuna's many gifts. He squeezed Tsuna's hand tightly, making the brunet gasp in pain underneath him. Reborn frowned at this action. "Be careful, he's really fragile right now."

"You're a bastard, Reborn," the redhead spat, but loosened his hold.

Reborn smirked. He's been called that by so many people, an additional one didn't matter. "Join the club, Enma."

* * *

A/N: This was getting _way _too long to continue. I can't reread it, so I hope everything is in order.

Hooray for forwarding the plot! Somewhat!

You know, I'm no longer too sure on the pairing anymore. Originally it was to be 6927, but now it could be 10027, 1827, 0027… etc. Maybe it's All27 now, but for the main, no longer sure.

Anyway, thanks for reading and stay tuned for the next chapter!


	4. Both Magic and Miracles Exist

QVR: Tsuna has a new set of friends, namely Gokudera and Yamamoto, and cannot hold his spiked drink. Reborn needs an answer, but it'll have to wait until later. Emna hates his fate, but he must accept it. Moving along…

* * *

Chapter Four: Both Magic and Miracles Exist

* * *

_"Looking back, I still didn't know anything. Neither the meaning of the miracle that I wished for, nor what it would cost to me."_

* * *

Tsuna has always hated Snow White. Not just the princess but the whole entire story in general. But yes, she is his least favorite Disney princess. She was just so… _annoying_.

It was also after reading the tale that his mother began to flip out. In a way that only his mother could.

He had to admit though, what _really_ creeped him out the most was the Magic Mirror. Very few people know this, but Tsuna has never seen a mirror in real life. He never used one; his mother had banned them from the house. There weren't any in his house that he was aware of, except perhaps for in his mother's room, which he was forbidden to enter anyway. She was a woman after all, and appearances matter to them. She requested that when he goes to the Nurse's Office that there be no mirrors in his presence, and considering the circumstances it was done. So no mirrors for Tsuna.

It's not like it mattered anyway. There were so many glass windows in his house that Tsuna could see his reflection from there. The various windows in Tsuna's room reflected that.

Besides, windows were also portals to other places, one that a person could actually see into. Unlike mirrors, where you can only see what's reflected. At least, that's what he was told that mirrors do. Not that he would actually know.

So Tsuna was very curious when he found himself in a sealed white room with only a mirror inside. He approached the mirror slowly, turning to observe his surroundings and finding nothing else there. Eventually, he found himself blinking at himself. He stared at his reflection, who stared back. Every move he made, his replica did the same, in a mirrored effect of course. Which was slightly strange, but what did Tsuna know, he didn't know how mirrors actually worked save for talking faces telling queens how pretty and fair they were across the land.

Why not? He smiled, amused at his planned antics. He cleared his throat and proclaimed, "Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?"

His little giggles of laughter were cut short.

"You, of course."

Tsuna widened his eyes as his reflection stopped mirroring his movements as it replied to the original, smiling widely. The image grew larger and Tsuna stepped back just as it grabbed the frames of the mirror. That sound Tsuna made was a sound of sheer horror as Tsuna's reflection stepped out of the glass and into the white room, adding an additional person into the otherwise void room.

"W-what?" Tsuna stepped back slowly, scared. He started to back away slowly as the reflection approached him, causing for him to trip on his feet. He fell to the ground, landing on his behind, and began to tremble in fear.

His double gave him a small frown, placing its finger over its lips. "What's wrong, Tsuna? Don't you remember me?"

_Don't forget._

A wave of pain flashed over Tsuna's head as he staggered back, about to fall as he clutched the right side of his face. His reflection caught him before he hit the floor, cradling him carefully as he whimpered in pain.

"Shhh." Tsuna's replica gently brushed the hair away from Tsuna's eyes, closed shut. It ran his fingers through his hair, murmuring, "It was my fault, I was too careless." His fingers moved down to his right eye, gently caressing it, coaxing for him to open it. Hesitantly, Tsuna complied and noticed that his reflection had mandarin garnet in contrast to his chocolate diamonds. It kissed Tsuna's eye, directly on his cornea before grazing its tongue on it, causing for the boy to shiver, before it moved to whisper in his ear, "But I'll fix it. Just let me handle it, and you will be fine."

* * *

Tsuna gasped, bolting right up in bed, covered in sweat. He placed his left hand over his eye, feeling a slimy feeling over it. Take calming breaths, calming breaths. What the heck was that?

A knock on his bedroom door made him jump. "Tsu-kun, are you going to school?"

Best not to worry about it. "Y-yes please!"

* * *

In Tsuna's opinion, his mother was the greatest chief in the world. He savored the warm buttermilk pancake in his mouth. "Om nom nom," he said, stuffing his face. His mother smiled at her son, too preoccupied to his meal to pay any attention to it, and it faltered slightly as she turned to the door, when their doorbell promptly rang.

"I'll get it, Tsu-kun," Nana said, getting up from the table to answer it. Tsuna paid it no mind, too busy eating. Hmm, it was strange – he's never been so hungry for food after a night's rest.

"Tsu-kun, look who it is!"

Tsuna looked up from his breakfast with a bit of pancake sticking out to find Byakuran, smiling wide and waving next to his mother, who escorted him inside.

He dropped his fork, appetite suddenly gone.

_But Millefoire-san always told us to stay away, told everyone to stay away from you._

"Byakuran… san."

"Tsu-chan, good morning! Have you heard the news?" he asked, taking his place next to the brunet. "There was a murder last night."

Tsuna widened his eyes, jerking back to face his friend. "W-what? W-who was it? Was it someone we know?"

He lowered himself into Tsuna's ear, whispering, "Sho-chan."

There was a moment of shock as Byakuran pulled back, smiling as Tsuna choked on his breakfast.

He managed to get out, "W-what?"

Irie-san... is dead? He was killed?

How could Byakuran be so cheerful?

Byakuran paid him no mind as he pulled him up from his chair. "I hope you don't mind, Nana-chan, if I walk Tsu-chan to school today? It's been very dangerous these past few days."

She nodded. "Perfectly fine, Byaku-chan, perfectly fine. But Tsu-kun, are you done eating?"

He could no longer eat even if he wanted to. He nodded numbly as Byakuran exclaimed, "Great! Bye Nana-chan! I'll return him safely!" and dragged him out of the kitchen. He grabbed his book bag along the way as Tsuna was unable to in his state. He gently and slowly placed his shoes on Tsuna's feet, who just let him do as he wanted and pulled him outside to go to school.

* * *

It was strange, usually Shoichi would be talking right now, countering Byakuran's childishness. Sure he wasn't there yesterday, but that was only once a week. Now it would be forever.

"Tsu-chan," Byakuran said, linking his fingers with the brunet's, "Don't be so down."

"I-Irie-san..." Tsuna whimpered out, wanting to cry.

How could he suddenly be gone from this world? How? He was perfectly healthy and had a bright future in front of him. He had already received a scholarship for his advances in science and had his life set out to be a brilliant man as the prodigy that he was.

He was someone that actually had a reason for living.

"Tsu-chan, don't think that. Sho-chan never had as much value as you," Byakuran broke into his thoughts, staring directly into his eyes with only a few inches of space in between. Tsuna widened his eyes and tried to jerk back, but Byakuran's tight grip wouldn't let him. "Hie!"

"Tsu-chan, you need to be careful, there are dangerous people around," Byakuran murmured as he pushed himself closer to Tsuna, blocking him from view to certain people. "After all, it was Rokudo Mukuro who killed Sho-chan."

Tsuna's mind grew blank at that revelation.

"Millefoire," Gokudera growled, causing for Tsuna to jump slightly and move forward to peek over and see the honor delinquent. Right behind him was the baseball star, who was not smiling and was actually looking quite mad. "Release Juudaime."

"Gokudera, what's the sudden interest? As far as I knew, you've always hated Tsu-chan," Byakuran replied, moving to block Tsuna from seeing anything at all.

"Shut up. I should have suspected when you warned everyone to stay away from Juudaime. I was too foolish and distracted with the other failure." He made a reach for Tsuna, but Byakuran quickly dashed to block him from doing so.

"Don't you remember, Tsu-chan?" Byakuran whispered in Tsuna's ear, "That Gokudera was one of the many people that teased you as a child?" Byakuran's voice had an eerie tone to it, but Tsuna found himself captivated by it. An image of himself being kicked in the face as a child by faceless people was revealed to be Gokudera sneering among them. He found himself dimly nodding at whatever his friend said, tears streaming down his eyes at the memory.

Gokudera bit his lip as Yamamoto countered, "What do you mean, Millefoire-san? Hayato only came into our class just a few months ago! How could he have teased Tsuna as a child?"

Tsuna blinked. Yamamoto was right. Gokudera only transferred into their class a few months ago. But then who was that child? His head started to hurt. He groaned, clutching his head as fatigue started to come back to him. Byakuran turned to him, eyes wide as he held Tsuna steadily. "Be careful, Tsu-chan. You went to bed late last night, didn't you? Talking to Kozato and Reborn as well as these two?"

The brunet froze as Byakuran smiled. "Don't worry, I forgive you. But you shouldn't listen to any of these liars, Tsu-chan. They're going to hurt you at this rate." He gently took hold of Tsuna's waist and picked him up bridal style. He ignored the yells of the two classmates coming from behind them as he carried Tsuna to school, who had closed his eyes.

He wouldn't mind taking a nap right now.

* * *

"_Tsunayoshi, Tsuna, you need to be careful. Things are moving much faster now."_

_Four year old Tsuna looked up from his seat of pretzel legs and tilted his head at his older reflection, who was smiling sadly at him in reply as he ran his fingers through his sienna hair._

_Odd, why was he four? And his reflection… he was pretty sure that he had brown hair not blond._

_And since when was his eyes __mandarin garnet__?_

"_Do I know you?" he asked in a childish tone, giant doe eyes wide in confusion. It came to him. "Am I… you?"_

_His older self that yet wasn't him at the same time choked up. Tears started to stream down his eyes as he cried, "I am so very sorry, Tsuna."_

"_Don't worry," Tsuna heard himself say, "I'll make sure to be more cautious."_

* * *

And back he was at the Nurse's Office. It was to be expected. After all, as sickly as he was he was not to be disturbed if he was sleeping. He was a special case, and while Tsuna hated special treatment it was given to him regardless.

Dang, now he missed Spanner's lecture. Not that he was really complaining, if anything it was a welcomed thing. He really didn't want to listen to tales of random tidbit facts that would not be on his tests anyway.

Actually, maybe it would have been nice; a nice distraction from what was going on and perhaps a sense of normalcy to return. Again, an illusion of course, but it was still welcomed regardless.

"Herbivore."

Tsuna widened his eyes as he turned towards the window to see Hibari Kyoya leaning by the window, looking as if he's been waiting there for a while. Of anyone of Namimori Middle School, he was the one who followed the rules to the wire. Usually. He narrowed his eyes, and Tsuna could see the small glint that it held. "I can smell him off you, the omnivore. Is he here?"

Oh, they're back to this again? It's been a while. Tsuna sighed. "As always, Hibari-san, I have no idea what you're talking about. Who is this 'omnivore' of which you speak of?"

Hibari refers to Tsuna as a 'herbivore', considered himself and begrudgingly Byakuran 'carnivores', but occasionally asked Tsuna about the whereabouts for a certain 'omnivore'. No other names were categorized or mentioned. Not that Tsuna had an answer to the question, as he didn't know who he was talking about.

But that 'smelling' thing, that was new.

Hibari tsked. "So he's still away? Very well. I can tell that it won't be for long. He'll know where to find me. Tell the baby that he has no control over me. Also, I don't like you hanging out with the other herbivores. Desist that immediately." Before Tsuna could reply, he jumped out of the window, making Tsuna widen his eyes, but he sighed. After all, he was used to this by now.

"Hmph. I know that."

Tsuna turned to see Reborn playing with a syringe needle. He swayed it back and forth, watching the liquid obey the forces of gravity as it flowed to where it was carried down to. "Only you can control him, Tsuna." He jumped off the table and walked over to Tsuna, still fiddling with the needle. He held it over his eyes and looked at Tsuna through the transparent glass. "Dame-Tsuna, why are you still with Byakuran? Did you already forget what I told you?"

Tsuna blinked, edging slightly away from the tip of Reborn's needle. "I-I don't know what you mean, Reborn." He didn't feel that there was a need for an honorific, as if it wasn't necessary. "This is only the third time we've spoken."

Reborn frowned. "Just as I thought." In a split second, Reborn jabbed his needle in Tsuna's arm and injected him with the drug it held. Tsuna winced, but it was already in his system. "This'll take off that pesky mind block."

Tsuna sighed. He was used to the drugs already. Ooh, his mind stared to fizz a little. He placed his hand to his forehead, feeling its temperature. It flashed hot for a moment before returning to a normal heat. He placed down his hand and looked over to the infant in front of him.

"So, Dame-Tsuna, since we're alone," Reborn closed the door and it locked with a _click_. "Can I have an answer now?"

He stared at the door. "… An answer?"

"Your wish?" The infant smiled.

Oh, back to this. Tsuna thought about it. Reborn seemed really intent on getting his hands on this certain piece of information, a piece of information that Tsuna didn't know the answer to himself. "Hmm, well, before I go off and telling you something and having myself bound by my wording, could you perhaps explain what's going on first?" Yes, that was a smart answer.

Reborn widened his eyes slightly, but then smirked. It was obvious that the drug was working. "Smart answer, Dame-Tsuna. Perhaps you're not so stupid as I thought. Very well, I shall explain it to you, in an abridged version, of how this will work. Too bad Enma's stuck in class.

"Basically, in the broadest sense, I find people with qualification, which so happens to be you in this case. I give you a ring, which assesses your potential on how your much skill will bring you, and in exchange for you telling me your wish, there is a possibility for it to come true if you play in this little game my associates and I like to call 'Mafia'."

That version was _way _too broad for Tsuna's liking. "Wait just a minute. Okay, first of all the only reason I found you was because I heard your voice in my head."

"That's how we find people," Reborn curtly replied, raising his arm for his green chameleon to come out. It took a glance at Tsuna before sticking out its tongue. It turned back to Reborn, who shook his head, before retreating back into the infant's suit sleeve. "Leon's waiting for an answer as well."

"But you called me by _name_," Tsuna retorted, still confused on the situation. "How did you know my name?"

"That's how we find people," Reborn repeated, in the exact same way as he did before.

Tsuna stared down at Reborn, too preoccupied with Leon to meet his gaze. The brunet sighed. "Okay, so how did I get the ring then?"

"Dame-Tsuna, that's your fault for not remembering. I gave it to you in your dream, remember?"

Tsuna blinked. "M-my _dream_?"

Reborn nodded. "Your dream. I was there, you were there; people were there. Good times. That one was your fault."

"Sorry," Tsuna mumbled, slightly embarrassed. "But I don't remember my dreams."

"Dame-Tsuna, I know that." Reborn was annoyed. "Regardless, that's where your ring came from. Your very special ring that signifies that you are to be a Boss when you decide to play. Not only is your first stone significant, but the second one could already be seen this early in the stage. Clearly you should tell me your wish now, less you waste your opportunity."

"R-Reborn, wait, I still want to know what you mean by this game of yours, this 'Mafia'," Tsuna said, "And why do you call me 'boss' but Gokudera-san and Yamamoto-san 'guardians'. What even is that?"

Reborn didn't answer just yet, instead looking over to the clock. "We have time, I suppose I can explain. In 'Mafia', there are teams that are known as 'Famiglia'. In the Famiglia, there is a singular Boss with subordinates to protect them, known as Guardians. Usually it is unknown until after a set period of time of what the person's status will be, and if one does not pass the test, he will remain as a Guardian. In your current state, it is already confirmed that you will be a Boss, even though you have yet to tell me your wish. That's why I need to know it, Tsuna, so that you can formally enter the ranks. Many of your friends are playing this game, Tsuna, don't you want to join them?"

An image of playing Tag as a child trickled into Tsuna's mind. "W-what exactly do you do in this game?"

"It's easy, Dame-Tsuna," Reborn started, watching Leon crawl over to Tsuna to lick his hand. Tsuna wanted to retract it, but his hand was paralized under the chameleon's saliva. The clock chimed noon as Reborn finished, "All you have to do is kill the other Bosses."

There was a moment of dead silence as Tsuna let those words sink in.

"W-was Irie-san a Boss?" Tsuna croaked out, needing to know. "W-was that why Rokudo-san killed him?"

Reborn frowned. "No."

"O-oh." Tsuna allowed for himself to sigh a sigh of relief. Irie-san... wasn't involved.

The infant narrowed his eyes. "Who told you that?"

The way that Reborn glared at Tsuna made him shiver and somewhat hesitant to answer. Regardless, he found himself muttering, "B-Byakuran-san..."

Reborn tsked, obviously displeased with the answer he had been given. "Stay away from that man, Dame-Tsuna. He will give you only misery."

"So... So I've been told," Tsuna murmured as he closed his eyes, fingers itching to draw something.

Something poked him in the arm. "Do you want your notebook, Tsuna? Do you want to draw something?" Reborn continued to jab the book at him.

Tsuna didn't even answer as his hands took the pencil out of the spiral and turned to a fresh page, letting his pencil roam free. There was only the sound of Tsuna gliding his pencil over the paper, not paying attention at what he was drawing while Reborn watched him and his work with interest. Time passed with this the only sound before he sighed, done with his work. He stared at it. "Please tell me about the Bosses and Guardians?"

Reborn looked up from his picture. "... Interesting picture, Tsuna. Very interesting. Very well.

"Think of it as a chess match. The Boss, obviously, would be the King. He is the one who rules over the pawns, which would be the Guardians. However, what is unique about this match is that the Guardians are not as bountiful as many pawns, but they are as powerful as the Queen. The King does have also power, much more powerful than the Queen. However, he can only utilize this power if he is in certain imperil and if accepted by the ring to actually use said power to defend himself if the Guardians have been defeated or if he himself had no Guardians to begin with. It is in this when it is truly revealed the difference between a Boss or a Guardian."

"How?" Tsuna asked, curious as Reborn took back the notebook. Tsuna let him have it, it wasn't his after all. "How then is it known that I would be a Boss instead of a Guardian?"

Reborn sighed as he placed the book under his fedora hat. "I've already told you this, Dame-Tsuna, it's seen in your ring. Your gem has that twinkle, which proves that there is another hidden underneath." He smiled. "Never before have I seen someone with so much potential as yourself.

"But, in the end, it's all up to you, Tsuna. All I can do is hope that you come to me or that I'm with you when you have your wish made up. I'll be waiting," Reborn said just as the bell ring. Tsuna looked up to the clock to see that almost two hours has passed and he had spent all of his school day in the Nurse's Office. When he looked back to Reborn, he had found that he'd disappeared like before.

He wondered what he drew in that notebook for Reborn to like it so much to call it interesting.

The door slid open and Tsuna watched a silhouette creep along his curtain before deciding to ignore it and bent down to reach for his bag to leave. Suppose he'd have to go meet Byakuran by the gate. Usual routine. It was all he had left to fall back on, even if Shoichi was no longer there.

Hmm, since he wasn't in class today due to his condition, Byakuran would have to buy Tsuna a snack of his own choosing. The brunet wondered what marshmallow treat he would be subject to today. There were only so many desserts made with the sweet confection of sugar and gelatin.

The curtain was pushed aside and another hand grabbed Tsuna's bag before the brunet could even graze his fingertips on the straps. He looked up to see who picked it up. His heart stopped for a split second as his eyes caught the figure in front of him.

Rokudo Mukuro.

_After all, it was Rokudo Mukuro who killed Sho-chan._

"Tsunayoshi-kun, are you alright?" The statement went through one ear and out the other as Tsuna could not move, too terrified to do anything. Tsuna was frozen, and was unable to move as Rokudo smiled sadly at him but Tsuna saw his right eye burn in anger. He started to tremble in fear. Oh god, was he going to die? But…

He gasped when Mukuro caressed his finger along Tsuna's face, trailing up to his eye. The heterochomic man looked annoyed.

"I'm too late, aren't I?" Tsuna heard him curse in that same language as yesterday under his breath as he took him by the hand. "Sorry for the sudden intrusion, Tsunayoshi-kun," he said, pulling him out of his bed, "But you seem to be meeting everyone today, and it wouldn't be fair if I wasn't included in that number." He pulled him to his feet as he grabbed his bag and dragged him to the door to leave.

"Change of plans, Tsunayoshi-kun, you're spending your afternoon with me."

* * *

"Kufufu. Tsunayoshi-kun, you're spilling your tea."

"H-huh? O-oh…" Tsuna placed down his cup before he could spill anymore, but he couldn't stop shaking. Usually he was a shy introvert but his current situation wasn't helping him all that much.

This had to be the… seventy-second time he's been forced to go somewhere against his will. Mukuro would be his fourth person. First it was his mother - who did it on occasion to get him to go to the doctor - then Byakuran - who did it too many times for no reason whatsoever except for looking for orange clovers - last night added Emna and now here he was in what he assumed to be Mukuro's home, being served tea. On very nice china he might add.

"S-sorry, Rokudo-san…" Tsuna stammered out, terrified out of his wits.

He was a dead man.

"Just 'Mukuro' is fine, Tsunayoshi-kun," he replied, smiling eerily as he folded his hands and placed his chin on it. "Tsunayoshi-kun, does it bother you that I call you by your full first name?"

"E-eh?" Tsuna just couldn't stop trembling. "U-uh, I suppose it must be a mouthful to say…"

"Why do you prefer to be called 'Tsuna'?" Mukuro pressed, needing to know.

"U-um, again, because it's less syllables?" Tsuna half-answered, half-asked. If he didn't want to call him by his nickname, it was his personal preference! Tsuna just thought it would be easier for others if he was called a shorter version of his name. He shook his head, and his hand brushed over his tea cup.

"Please don't be afraid, Tsunayoshi-kun," Mukuro said as the tea cup slid off the table and shattered on the floor. "I'm not going to hurt you."

"I'm not -"

"In fact, I'm one who's supposed to _protect_ you. I am, after all, one of your Guardians."

There were too many revelations today.

Tsuna got up from the table, the sudden movement and shift making him woozy for a few moments. "W-what?"

"Kufufu," Mukuro chuckled in that creepy laugh of his as he too stood up. He reached over the table and placed his thumb on Tsuna's forehead, knocking over the tea and snacks of assorted cookies and cake pops placed in the middle all over the table. "You forgot, remember?" He pulled the brunet into a hug.

"Don't worry, I'll protect you this time. And I won't let those others get in the way. Except maybe for Hibari, just because he's like a little gnat that won't go away."

"O-others…?" Tsuna managed to choke out.

"I won't let you run away, Tsuna. I can't. Never again," Mukuro replied as he moved his fingers over Tsuna's right eye. He caught the shadows of the sun lower from the window behind him, and cursed once more under his breath.

"I've got to get you home, less your mother gets upset." He stepped over the table, taking Tsuna by the hand as he grabbed the brunet's stuff with his free hand. "That wouldn't make a good impression at all."

* * *

Nana blinked at the people at her front door. There were two of them. One of them was her embarrassed son, who stared at the ground and arrived at his exact curfew time as the sun was currently setting. The other was one holding onto her son's hand with one hand and a box in the other. The strange man holding her son's hand smiled apologetically at her, but she'd address him in a moment. She turned to her son. "Tsu-kun, who's this?"

"O-oh, he's… um…" At a loss of words.

"It's a pleasure to actually meet you in person, Sawada-san." He bowed slightly to her. "I'm Rokudo Mukuro, a classmate of Tsunayoshi-kun. He was just showing me around town since I just recently moved here. I'm sorry that I took him for so long, so please accept this box of pastries." He held out the box, and Nana had no hesitation in swiping it off his hands.

She inspected it carefully, checking for any deformities before she caught a whiff of its contents. Her eyes sparkled. "Is this... from Starlight Sweets Bakery? And from this smell… No, their special bacon brownie? How did you know?" She smiled widely as she ushered both boys inside, obviously not paying attention to her son's discomfort as she opened the box to find the exact treat she claimed it would be. "Oh, don't worry about it at all, Tsu-kun. I approve of your new boyfriend."

Tsuna blushed cherry red. "R-Rokudo-kun's not my boyfriend!"

Mukuro smiled, the Nana-hurdle has been leaped with great success. He decided that she was too distracted to notice as he quickly pecked Tsuna on the lips. "Good night, Tsunayoshi-kun. I wish you sweet dreams as I see you on the morrow." He bowed before he quickly retreated as Nana was finished with the brownie.

"Tsu-kun, is he the replacement for Byaku-chan?" she asked bluntly, but Tsuna was too dazed to answer. He just shrugged as he moved to his room, not having an appetite to eat and just wanted to sleep.

Let's just pretend that this day never happened.

* * *

_That blond man was there again, and Tsuna found himself tripping as he tried to run over to him, trying not to cry as he fell on his face._

_The man walked over to him and plucked him up from the ground, and tried to comfort the child trying to put on a brave façade. _

"_It's okay, Tsuna," the man whispered as he brushed his fingers on Tsuna's head before lowering down to his hand. "In here, it's okay to cry."_

_And Tsuna let those tears run free._

* * *

"Oh, Dame-Tsuna, it's futile," Reborn said as he watched the brunet sleep restlessly, tossing and turning as his drug continued to run through his system. "Just hurry and accept it already, I'm starting to get tired of waiting."

* * *

A/N: Everyone seems to be quite confused with this whole story. Here are those explanations, somewhat anyway, as well as character-related elements. Are people still confused now?

Nothing to say really… I'm quite tired.

Thanks for reading! Reviews are lovely~


	5. There's No Way I'd Regret This

QVR: There's a game called _Mafia_, and Tsuna's being called to take up the role of Boss – which is the equivalent of a King with a Queen's power (except the sliding across the board thing) in Chess. Everyone's starting to make their move, but what will Tsuna's first move be? (It's all coming back to you.)

A/N: (Sorry in advance for the long A/Ns, but **please read both of them - this one and the one at the end of the chapter **...Wow I can't underline and bold at the same time what...)

Gosh, it's been a while. Does anyone read this particular fic of mine?

So I've had this for a couple of months, stopped writing for a while (life, you know? and laziness…), then it was Tsuna's b-day (it's still in progress), then Reborn finished, so…

[I feel so brain-dead right now]

Basically, after being away for so long, I had to do Reborn instead of DC.

_Myriam_, thank you for reviewing; I'm happy you liked it. And this is just inspired by _Puella_, and will be different from the series. At least from what I have planned ahead. It was because I just finished the series when I wrote Chapter One, which is why it's so similar to the first episode. And I just love 10027, but don't see it often I'm afraid. Or at least, not the way I want the relationship to be. That's why I'm thinking of placing it here.

Also, I decided that I'll continue posting here until I get deleted/get reported, at which time I'll be sure to inform you all where I'd go since I'm not to drop anything.

Well, here we go...

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Chapter Five: There's No Way I'd Regret This

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_"There's no way to go back._ _A contract means you have to give up everything for a single wish."_

**=-0-=-0-=-0-=-0-=-0-=**

"Are you scared?"

Tsuna nodded in confirmation, squeezing his eyes tightly shut. He didn't know what to say, and even if he knew he was positive that no words would come out anyway.

"Tsuna..." He felt his reflection reach out for him before pulling back. "Fine." The reflection sounded hurt. Tsuna felt his heart ache at the sound. He cracked his eyes open just a tad.

It seemed to be deep in thought. "There are too many risks this time and you're too fragile."

His mirrored image that looked so much like him but was his complete opposite hardened its voice and Tsuna found himself captivated by their only physical appearance, their eyes. "But...we have time, so we'll do it your way." He grabbed Tsuna and returned the gaze. "But if I see you doing something too drastic, I won't let you stop me."

**=-0-=-0-=-0-=-0-=-0-=**

Tsuna took deep breaths before cracking open his eyes to face the new day. He'd think he'd stay home from school today. An obvious choice. Today was Saturday.

Brush, brush, brush his teeth. Hmm, maybe today would be a normal day.

"Tsu-kun, look, you have visitors again!"

Or not.

"Juudaime, are you okay?" Gokudera rushed over to Tsuna's seat, making Tsuna drop his half of a spoon of rice as the self-appointed Guardian pulled him into a hug.

Tsuna was frozen, lost in memories of himself being left on the floor to die by his blurry classmates except for that one face that was clear. That face of Gokudera Hayato.

Yamamoto laughed. "You're choking him, Hayato."

Gokudera immediately widened his eyes and released Tsuna, allowing for him to breathe and cough, back in this current reality of his kitchen. "I'm…I'm so sorry, Juudaime! I was just so happy to see you safe and I just couldn't help myself!"

Tsuna recovered from his coughing fit, blinking back into reality. "I-It's okay," he breathed, making sure that he had enough oxygen in his lungs. "If you don't mind me asking, what are you doing here?" he asked bluntly, not caring to smooth out his questions as he held his head on the table.

His head hurt.

"Are you alright, Tsuna?" Yamamoto placed his hand to the brunet's forehead and quickly retracted. He frowned, but Tsuna couldn't read his face. He heard him say, "Oh, he's good."

Gokudera narrowed his eyes at his partner, clenching his fist. "I will not accept this!" He turned to leave but Yamamoto grabbed onto his collar.

The baseball star was not pleased. "And leave Tsuna defenseless? For what? As you always tell me, don't be stupid."

"The bastard touched Juudaime!" Gokudera roared, making Tsuna wince. Too loud!

Yamamoto noticed. "Calm down; you're scaring Tsuna. Again. Just leave it for now and we can deal with him later." He turned back to Tsuna, who closed his eyes with his own hand to his forehead.

What was wrong? He didn't have any signs of a fever; Byakuran took care of that.

_"Dame-Tsuna, why are you still with Byakuran? Did you already forget what I told you?"_

"Tsu-kun," Nana called from the hallway, still here. "I'm going out for a bit since your friends are here."

Were these his friends? Or were they just Guardians to someone who didn't agree to be a Boss yet?

No, Tsuna didn't want to believe that. He wanted to be friends. He wanted _new_ friends. He couldn't just stay with Byakuran forever, no matter how much the marshmallow tried to keep him in his clutches. And if they were just here because of this Guardian/Boss relationship, Tsuna could use it.

"Muh," he replied, and his mother took that as acknowledgement of his acceptance to her statement.

"I'll be back soon, Tsu-kun. Hayato-kun, Takeshi-kun, I'll leave my son to you." She was at the door at this point and whispered ominously, "Be careful." And with that, Nana was off.

Tsuna wasn't even able to finish his breakfast. He pushed it away, appetite gone anyway.

"Juudaime, please don't let us stop you from finishing your breakfast. You need your nutrients," Gokudera said as Tsuna stared at his plate forlornly.

"Mm," Tsuna said, dazedly picking back up his fork to finish. Even if Nana left, the love that she put in her food was still there. At least, Tsuna wanted to call it love.

The Guardians watched their Boss eat in silence, not wanting to disturb him. Tsuna didn't mind; he didn't want to have the pointless idle chatter that he had during meals with his mother, less with others.

"So, Tsuna, what do you usually do on Saturdays?" Yamamoto asked after Tsuna had finished. Gokudera placed the dirty dishes in the sink while Tsuna was guided into the living room by Yamamoto.

"Well," Tsuna replied softly as he took a seat on his sofa. "Usually Byakuran-san comes over at about..." He looked at the clock to spot the time to be 9:45. "Ten or so, and he takes me somewhere. It changes every week, and I don't know where we're going until we get there."

"Tsuna, why do you spend all your time with Millefiore-san?" Yamamoto asked, and Tsuna thought about before answering.

"I... actually don't remember when I started spending time with Byakuran-san, or how we actually met. But for as long as I could remember, Byakuran-san was there."

And he couldn't let go of such a precious friend, even if he was a liar.

"So I'm going to have to ask you both to leave," he said, getting up. "Byakuran-san's going to get mad at me if he catches me hanging out with you."

"Juu-Juudaime!" Gokudera gasped. "Please..."

"Gokudera-kun's right, Sawada-san. Why don't we change up your schedule?"

_Eh?_ Tsuna turned to his front door to see Kozato Enma with that infant on his shoulders, who quickly jumped off and hopped onto Tsuna's.

"Dame-Tsuna, you need to get your head in the game," Reborn said, tapping his head. "If you weren't so sickly I'd kick you."

"Hie!" Tsuna jerked away, but it didn't shake the infant from his head. "Please don't!"

"Hm." Reborn pulled on the brunet's spiky hair. "Emna, lead the way. Let's show him what it's like."

Emna looked shell-shocked. Tsuna in this interval of silence tried to shake Reborn out of his hair a few more times, but it was in vain. "You must have nice hair," Yamamoto laughed, getting close to him to stroke it. "It's quite fluffy."

Tsuna broke into a red flush and Gokudera grabbed the baseball nut. "Idiot, what do you think you're doing? Who gave you the right to touch the Juudaime?"

Yamamoto just laughed it off. Tsuna kept staring at the clock, seeing it about to strike ten and one of Byakuran's things was punctuality. "P-please, can you all just go?" he begged, not wanting to lose his first friend. Everyone turned to him for a few moments of silence and Emna decided to speak up at this time.

"Fine, Reborn." He took a glance at Tsuna before addressing the infant once more. "We can go take Dino on I suppose. He should be at the park right now. And he'll probably be more stable after seeing him. But I don't have any Guardians."

Reborn shrugged him off. "I'm sure that Dame-Tsuna will lend you his own. Won't you, Dame-Tsuna?" Tsuna blinked. Eh?

"Su-sure," he found himself replying. Anything to get them to leave. "Take them, Kozato-san, I don't mind. I think I'll just stay here though..." He ignored the scandalous looks on his self-appointed Guardians' faces and moved his hand to remove Reborn at this point, but at getting so close the infant grabbed one of his fingers and squeezed it so tight that Tsuna was sure that he broke it.

"Dame-Tsuna," Reborn said, "this whole venture would be pointless if you were not to come along."

"Don't worry about Millefoire-san," Enma said as he placed his hand over Reborn's and the infant's grip loosened somewhat. "He's currently occupied with a few others at the moment."

"And Maman gave those two her blessings." Reborn pointed at the Guardians behind him, who stood up at attention. "You've got nothing to lose except your curiosity."

Soon enough Tsuna found himself being dragged along to the outside of his house just as the clock chimed ten.

And too late a thought chimed into his head:

"_But didn't curiosity kill the cat?" _

**=-0-=-0-=-0-=-0-=-0-=**

"So, Tsuna, do you have a wish yet?"

Eh? Of all the things he was expecting…yeah, he probably should have expected this question.

"Do you?" Enma asked again.

Uh… "No?"

"Well you better think of one soon," interrupted Reborn as he looked down from Tsuna's fluff of hair. "The sooner you think of one, the better it would be for all of us."

"R-right," Tsuna replied, taking a quick glance back behind him. Yamamoto and Gokudera were at a safe distance where Enma and he couldn't be overheard, but they were close enough and keeping watch as if someone was going to jump the pair from the shadows. "Why are they…?"

"They know when to give the Bosses their space," Enma answered, eyes also glancing from side to side just slightly enough that Tsuna barely caught it. "And we're in his territory now."

"…Whose?" Tsuna dared to ask.

"Let me tell you something, Tsuna." Enma suddenly stood still, causing for everyone else to halt in their motion. Tsuna watched Enma crack for just a split second a wicked smirk before he placed his finger over his ring, over the orange stone it held.

"Including yourself and my own, there are currently four Bosses who are situated in Namimori. You may know them; you may not. Unless you yourself know the other's identity, their name cannot be spoken."

"But I never -"

"When you took those two as your Guardians, you basically declared yourself that you were taking up the claim to the throne," Reborn suddenly said, looking up to the sky. "And, Enma, you already revealed his name. Don't make up lies."

Enma took a step back and held his hands up to his chest in defense. "Hey, that's what you told me. I suppose then Tsuna already met Dino then?"

Reborn just hopped off of Tsuna's head as a voice replied to Enma,

"Met him? We're brothers, he and I."

In a flash, Yamamoto and Gokudera were in front of Tsuna and Enma, arms at a protective stance as they reached for their weapons. Gokudera tossed a few pieces of dynamite into the air and dust was scattered, making it hard for Tsuna to breathe. He began coughing loudly and stumbled to the ground to escape the smoke, causing for the two Guardians in front of the two Bosses to look back in concern. This would be their fatal mistake; a crack of a whip was heard the two fell to the ground, and Enma took a step forward and hovered his own arm in front of Tsuna as the dust cleared, revealing a blond dressed in a green jacket and white jeans across from them.

Enma grit his teeth. "Dino."

"My, my." Dino sounded amused as he retracted his whip back to his hand. "Kozato Enma? And here I thought that you were dead."

"One tends to think of many things if they don't double check to make sure that their target is still breathing," Enma replied dryly, rubbing his hands together.

Tsuna knew that he should be watching Enma, that something important was to happen involving the red head, but he found his attention brought to the infant who was currently kicking his other classmates on the floor. "Oh, how disappointing," he heard the infant say. "Either they are weaker than they claim, or Dino had just gotten stronger and obtained more Pawns."

"Reborn?" Dino peered out, his hand raised over his eyes to act as a vizier. "Is that you?"

The baby kicked the bodies before looking up. Reborn didn't reply to the other man's questions, turning to Tsuna instead. "Tsuna, would you like to check if your Guardians are still alive?"

Tsuna felt his mouth go dry. "S-still…alive?"

"Dame-Tsuna, they have been cast aside by the opponent."

Tsuna dropped to the ground and grabbed Gokudera's wrist to check for a pulse as well as Yamamoto's neck. They could not…are not…

Dino gasped over-dramatically. "You wound me, Reborn. Of course I wouldn't kill my little brother's Guardians!" He paused, before shrugging. "Alright, maybe I would. But just because they weren't worthy of protecting him."

"Dino," Enma suddenly said, gripping his gloved hand into a fist. "if Tsuna's your little brother, what would make me? We were all chosen the same way - " He took a quick glance at Reborn who was carefully watching Tsuna - "by the same Acrobaleno. Your logic makes no sense."

Dino just shrugged Enma's statement off, not bothering him in the slightest. "What makes no sense to me is why you're still alive. You should have died." He then refocused his attention to the brunet who was still checking for a pulse. "Tsuna! Why did you leave me? Why did you run? Didn't I swear to protect you? You know that I always keep my promises!"

Tsuna gave a big sigh of relief as he retracted his hands, feeling pulses in both of his classmates' neck/wrist. He then picked himself up from the ground, taking a good look at the one who declared himself Tsuna's brother, eyes flickering if only for a moment to a twinge of orange on the blond's finger. "…Have we met?"

The entire field was cast in a few moments of silence before Dino tightened his hand on his black leather whip. "Kozato, what did you do?"

"I didn't do anything," Enma replied, hand bursting into flames. Tsuna staggered from the intensity of the heat – something about it made him lose his footing, for only a second, before he regained it. "You only have yourself to blame." Enma brought it in front of his face and looked to the trees, watching for something.

Dino just started at Tsuna, and Tsuna could tell he was waiting for something - _anything _- that would have Tsuna recognize him. But Tsuna didn't recognize this person; he was not a familiar face to the brunet. Tsuna just shook his head. "Dino…san, I don't believe we have met beforehand."

It was silent for a few moments, moments of suspenseful silence, before there was a crack of a whip. "You're going to have to pay for this, Kozato. I cannot believe that Tsuna forgot about me."

"It's your fault," Reborn cut off randomly. Everyone conscious looked to him to find the infant pre-occupied with a small yellow bird feather. "Byakuran got a hold of him."

"Byakuran…" Lately that name has been spoken with such malice, with such hatred, Tsuna was slightly starting to become concerned. Did they also believe that Tsuna should share the same opinion of his best friend - his only friend because apparently Irie-kun was murdered…by the newest student whom his mother thought was his boyfriend no less…

The sound of distant laughter caused for him to shake his head; he did not want to think of that thank you - that opinion of hatred and despise?

The calling of his name was enough to completely pull Tsuna from his thoughts, but it was not a very comforting sentence. It was Enma who said it, assumingly to be directed at Dino.

"Enough to kill Tsuna?"

It was quiet again, but this one was much shorter than the one prior as Tsuna coughed, choking on what he had just heard. "K-Kill me?"

That seemed to bring Dino for an answer, quickly replying, "Of course I couldn't kill you, Tsuna! It's impossible to kill you!"

Tsuna knew what was the key word in that sentence. "But if you could…would you?"

The moment of hesitation was all Tsuna needed to know, no matter how short it lasted.

"Have you sensed it, Dino?" Enma said as Dino was just about to answer back to Tsuna, but Tsuna had already got his answer. The red head continued, "Don't you feel more…vulnerable?"

Eyes darted around the various trees surrounding the three - five including the two still unconscious on the ground - and Dino gasped. "What? Impossible! There were at least twenty!" The eyes were caught onto the yellow feather in Reborn's hand. "Kyoya."

_No, Hibari-san wasn't here. _The thought popped into Tsuna's head. Hibari wouldn't just leave so abruptly – this was not his style. The yellow feather however. That was evidence that Hibird was here. And Hibird was always with Hibari…

"Tsuna, did you miss it?"

Tsuna suddenly got a nagging feeling at the back of his head, and turned towards the trees – eyes wandering around for something but coming up short. He then turned to Reborn for an answer.

Eh?

Reborn rolled his eyes. "Of course you didn't. Dame-Tsuna."

"It's alright, Reborn. I got it."

Tsuna jumped; he didn't see Enma suddenly appear beside him, clutching something – _bloody – _close to his chest. Did he ever even leave his side? The red head was out of breath, looking a bit stressed as he tried to calm his breaths. "That was easier than I thought it would be. Much easier. As always, Sawada-san, you always manage to tip everything to your favor." Tsuna frowned, not understanding what he meant, but he continued, "One down, at least two more to go."

And Reborn was hanging up his phone, which then shifted into that green chameleon. "Make that one, Xanxus left for Italy and is no longer qualified."

At this news, the red head frowned. "He's giving up his claim so easily?" Enma asked, his breaths now even and steady. He took a quick peek at Tsuna, and seeing that the brunet was paying close attention to his and Reborn's conversation, swiftly looked back to the infant, who was deep in thought.

He got it. "He thinks he's cutting out the middle man."

"But…" Enma was still confused, which in turn confused Tsuna because he usually knew what was going on. "isn't this the final stage?"

The edges of Reborn's lips twitched. "Not that he knows that." He hid his eyes underneath his fedora, but Tsuna could still see the smirk that was clearly in them. "Well, that makes things more convenient."

Enma shrugged, as if it wasn't really his problem. "I suppose. Do you want it?"

Reborn just hopped on Tsuna's right shoulder, causing for the brunet to wince. "Give it to Tsuna."

Emna hesitated, and for a split second, Tsuna thought he saw a glimpse of glee mixed with something – _malice_ – in his eyes. "Uhh, okay. Here, Sawada-san." He slowly removed his hand from his chest, and brought it towards to the brunet, fingers still closed around the object he planned to give him. Tsuna held out his palm, not knowing what to expect.

He noticed that Gokudera and Yamamoto were beginning to stir from the ground when something hot and…charred? fell into the palm of his hand, and he brought his attention back to Enma and to the item he was given.

He stared at it for only a moment before letting out a shrill scream, twitched his hand so the burnt-to-the-bone finger fell out of his palm, and he fell to the ground, passed out from the shock of touching a piece of human flesh from someone he could only assume was burned to death.

The last conscious thought that was in Tsuna's head was: Doesn't Enma wield fire?

On the cobblestone, the finger lay, and the ring holding a dull orange ring was removed and pocketed by an infant wearing a tuxedo.

**=-0-=-0-=-0-=-0-=-0-=**

A/N: I can't write fight scenes, and I'm sorry if anyone's squeamish.

-removes giant weight off chest- Finally finished. Hope this was worth such a long wait.

I _really _don't want to re-read this, so I hope everything's fine. I've read this so many times when I planned to finish it and didn't, and just finished it up now, months after. Since I haven't written in a while, this chapter's shorter than my usual ones. Hope that's okay.

Lemme know if you want to continue reading this or not, please. Helps me sort out my priorities on what to work on.

Also, anyone have a particular pairing for Tsuna? It was originally supposed to be 6927, but I'm curious is all.

And – sincerely and truly – thanks for reading!


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